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Good call on the last two, but I indeed intended to say 'Eva-chin'. I have seen the 'chin' term as a more disrespectful, condescending form of '-chan' before. For instance, Tina adresses both Mayu and Chika with that suffix in Ai Yori Aoshi.

Though I thought that Zanmaken Ni-no-Tachi couldn't slice into humans, just demons? Makes sense for it to carve up Setsuna, but if Tsukuyomi had hit Konoka nothing would have happened, right?

I think it slices through pretty much whatever the user wishes it to. Rakan destroys a rock when he's showing it to Negi, Tsukuyomi uses it against Fate (though it is Fate, so...), and Gödel destroys the Knights' clothing with it.

No, no, that wasn’t really it. That wasn’t it at all. The room had never been pleasant. It was just as bad now as it always was.

Her tolerance for it had just gone down.

No fun. No fun or fair at all. This was all very bad.

Setsuna had disappeared before she woke up, so that wasn’t helping either. Not that things would be any more comfortable with her around, but it would at least be warmer. That was one thing that her senpai’s recent oddness around her couldn’t change.

Tsukuyomi could feel her head starting to ache.

Setsuna.

She had gotten out of talking to her roommate about their little altercation because her senpai was just as keen on avoiding discussing what happened as she was, but that didn’t matter much. Her problem was not with Setsuna.

Her problem was, yet again, with how Setsuna made her feel. What she made her feel.

Being happy when her senpai wasn’t dead was one thing. One very, very strange thing, but not such a huge deal. Just a little odd. A fun mystery to keep in mind while she was stuck at Mahora.

But this—this was so much different.

In all her life, Tsukuyomi had never had a problem with killing. It was enjoyable, kept her from being cold, and most importantly, it was fun. The moral dilemmas so many otherwise skilled fighters faced had never been an obstacle for her. She loved killing far too much to come up with silly, superficial reasons for avoiding it.

Not being able to kill someone wasn’t something that happened. Ever. Of course, every once in a while, she met an opponent whose strength simply outclassed hers, but that wasn’t the same thing. She could still kill them, it was just more likely that they’d beat her before an opportunity came up.

Her entire time in the Magical World, she had longed for her inevitable fight with Setsuna. No one matched her strength so equally, and no one else could make her feel so alive with only a touch. Since the very first day they met, Tsukuyomi was sure that killing Setsuna would fill her with a pleasure far more intense than anything she’d ever felt.

And then when they finally did get their true fight, she enjoyed every second of it. Even with the inconvenient interruptions, there could be no question that once it really started up, Setsuna was entirely focused on her. Setsuna wanted the fight just as badly.

Tsukuyomi dug out her broken pencil from under her sheets.

She couldn’t remember if she’d been thinking of killing Setsuna then. The fight and the blood had completely consumed her—death was secondary to those pleasures. Shredding through Setsuna’s flesh and feeling the spray of that deliciously hot blood splashing against her face—to her, that was the point.

There was, after all, nothing more beautiful than seeing Setsuna’s pale skin colored red with her own blood.

But the logical conclusion if that fight had continued without outside interference—

Tsukuyomi clamped her eyes shut and fought to keep her breathing regulated. An uncomfortable tremor of fear went through her. She remembered all too well where this path led.

Not doing this again, no we’re not.

She got the point. The thought of a dead Setsuna wasn’t something she could bear. It made no sense whatsoever, but she understood enough to know that she needed to guide her thoughts away from a dead Setsuna.

Tsukuyomi shivered; the room really was too cold.

She wasn’t used to her mind objecting to anything so violently.

She wasn’t used to being afraid.

Shaking her head furiously, she threw off the sheets and sat on the edge of the bed, examining the broken pencil in her hands. After a day of keeping her thoughts occupied with anything other than Setsuna, the little piece of wood was really very sharp.

Tsukuyomi scowled at it. She didn’t like how quickly her self-control died, but the number of things she did like about her current situation were rapidly disappearing, so there wasn’t any point pouting about it.

She drove the wood into her forearm, gasping in relief when the first touch of heat dripped onto her skin.

------

Setsuna walked back to her room as slowly as she possibly could. Looking uncomfortably over her shoulder every few seconds helped with that. And it proved that she was imagining the disapproving eyes watching her every move.

She sighed and looked back in front of her, following the path her feet were walking.

She wondered if she should have told the headmaster about her fight with Tsukuyomi.

The most vocal part of her conscience certainly agreed with that. Setsuna glanced over her shoulder for what she told herself would be the last time. Still no one watching her.

What was she supposed to say? She hadn’t even told Konoka about what happened. Only Mana knew, and she didn’t have all of the details. Telling the headmaster would mean explaining exactly why holding her temper around Tsukuyomi was impossible, and that would make it obvious that she probably shouldn’t be the one guarding the infuriating girl because she somehow managed to scare her and—

And—

She didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of someone else watching Tsukuyomi.

Setsuna knew she could be a little—well—possessive of the other girl, but she thought that ended with their fight. Hadn’t she hoped that someone else would deal with the swordsgirl at the start of Tsukuyomi’s incarceration?

But did I ever really want someone else to look after her?

She wished she didn’t know the answer to that; months of paranoia prevented her from putting too much distance between herself and Tsukuyomi. If someone else guarded her…

Setsuna looked over her shoulder another last time. Her selfishness was inappropriate back when she wanted to kill Tsukuyomi, and it was inappropriate now. She wasn’t supposed to hold things back in her reports to the headmaster. Technically, she held back information about herself, but that was a pitiful justification for it.

And to make matters worse, part of her was starting to think that reporting to the headmaster wasn’t necessary because Tsukuyomi was behaving herself, and the only problems popping up stemmed from their interaction and that was private.

And that, Setsuna thought, is ridiculous.

Setsuna rubbed at her forehead. She’d talk to Tsukuyomi about their fight when she reached the room. If she couldn’t convince herself to tell the headmaster about it, she should at least fix things so it wasn’t an issue. She probably shouldn’t have taken advantage of Tsukuyomi’s willingness to ignore the incident in the first place, so she could correct that too.

Plan hesitantly in place, Setsuna nodded and started walking at a normal pace.

The battered door to her room showed up much faster than she would have liked.

Setsuna took a deep breath and got out her key. There was always the chance that Tsukuyomi would still be asleep; there was no guarantee that she’d have to start an awkward conversation the second she stepped through the door.

She opened the door and walked in quietly—just in case.

All of her mental preparation vanished when she saw Tsukuyomi bleeding all over the bed.

Her body froze for a second, not comprehending what was happening.

Tsukuyomi

Blood.

Her blood.

Everywhere.

All over the bed.

All over the tower floor—

Setsuna’s body ran forward of its own volition and pressed a hand against Tsukuyomi’s bleeding forearm while the other summoned her pactio card. She barely noticed the other girl’s eyes opening in shock when she tightened her grip around the wound, smearing blood all over her hand.

“Kono-chan!”

------

Konoka pushed herself off the bed, sighing in relief. “Okay, done.”

“She’s going to be okay then?” Setsuna asked anxiously.

Konoka nodded. “She just lost a lot of blood—she’ll be fine.”

Setsuna looked at the unconscious girl who was lying so innocently on the bloody sheets. She gulped and turned away when she realized that Tsukuyomi was still covered in blood—and smiling. “That’s good.”

She spun the piece of wood that had caused all the trouble around in her hand. How had Tsukuyomi managed to do so much damage to herself with it? It was sharp enough to pierce the skin, but to cut into her arm that deeply with it… it would have been incredibly painful. And slow.

Setsuna felt a little sick imagining Tsukuyomi carefully opening up her veins little by little. What had Tsukuyomi been thinking? What the hell possessed her to be so stupid when there wasn’t any guarantee that she’d get to a healer before bleeding to death? She didn’t have the tools to be accurate enough to safely slice that deeply into herself, and it was just luck that Konoka was available. She wasn’t at the dojo anymore. She couldn’t just go to the infirmary and be sure that someone was around with the skill needed to fix her.

What was she thinking? She nearly killed herself!

The broken pencil snapped in Setsuna’s hand. She felt a little comforted when the half that fell out of her hand was the bloodier one. It was practically drenched in the repulsive fluid.

Tsukuyomi’s blood.

Setsuna jumped when she felt Konoka’s hands slip into hers. She dropped the other half of the pencil and looked into her partner’s eyes. Nothing but open affection could be seen in Konoka’s expression, and Setsuna felt her heart speed up and ache. She swallowed nervously. “Kono-chan?”

“Your hands are shaking,” Konoka said softly.

“O-oh.” Setsuna let Konoka move her into the chair she’d put near the bed while Konoka was working on Tsukuyomi. Konoka knelt next to her, still holding her hands. She ran her thumbs over Setsuna’s knuckles in a gentle caress.

“She really will be okay Set-chan; you should have more faith in me.”

“What?” Setsuna asked in shock before she tried to stutter out an explanation. “N-no—I’m not—it’s not that I don’t—I just—”

Konoka giggled and stood up to kiss Setsuna’s reddening cheek. She kept her lips against the burning skin several seconds longer than strictly necessary, and Setsuna could feel her higher brain function failing.

“Worrying so much isn’t healthy, Set-chan.”

Setsuna could feel her scalp starting to tingle. Searching for some distraction, her gaze fell back on Tsukuyomi. The girl was apparently still blissfully unconscious. Setsuna didn’t know when they were going to get a chance to clean the sheets.

“Set-chan?”

“Ah—yes, Ojou-sama?”

Konoka gnawed on her lip and squeezed Setsuna’s hands tightly. Belatedly, Setsuna wondered how much of Tsukuyomi’s blood she was getting on her partner.

“Should we be getting Tsukuyomi-san help?”

Setsuna blinked in confusion. “I thought you said that she’s going to be fine?”

Konoka shook her head. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Then… what did you mean?”

“Set-chan, she tried to kill herself,” Konoka said worriedly. “That’s not healthy.”

Setsuna confusion vanished, and she was left feeling incredibly awkward when she realized the conclusion her partner had reached. She shifted uncomfortably in the chair and glanced at Tsukuyomi for a moment before looking back at the honestly concerned Konoka.

“I think so.” Setsuna wasn’t sure what else to call it. As far as she knew (and she really didn’t know much), it was something Tsukuyomi enjoyed that helped her pass the time. That was a hobby, right?

“She does things like this to herself for fun?”

Setsuna nodded, feeling increasingly uncomfortable as Konoka’s expression grew more and more disturbed. She didn’t spend much time considering Tsukuyomi’s peculiar habits, but she was at least aware of how alien the girl’s mind was compared to normal people’s. Konoka wasn’t familiar enough with Tsukuyomi to know that this was probably the least distressing of her entertainment choices.

She sighed and looked back at her roommate. Tsukuyomi looked like she was starting to wake up a little bit—she wasn’t smiling anymore, and her usual sleeping behavior was kicking in; she was shivering and curling her head into the bloody sheets. She would probably be up in a few minutes; less if Konoka kept talking. Then Setsuna would have to be ready to talk about their fight, and—she’d also have to work out what to tell the headmaster about this mess.

He definitely needed to know that Tsukuyomi had gotten her hands on a weapon, even if it wasn’t one she could use effectively on anyone other than herself. She wasn’t as sure that it was necessary for him to know what Tsukuyomi used the improvised weapon for. Technically, she had only been ordered to report on how well Tsukuyomi was following the rules the headmaster set, not the girl’s eccentricities.

The best thing, Setsuna decided, her head starting to throb painfully, was probably to talk to Tsukuyomi about everything and figure out what the headmaster needed to know then.

She could just imagine how well that would go. It was very unlikely that Tsukuyomi would understand why slicing her arm open created problems for anyone else, and even less likely that she would care.

“You’re doing it again.”

Setsuna jumped. “Huh?”

Konoka smiled warmly. “Worrying.”

“Sorry,” Setsuna said automatically.

Konoka shook her head. “Don’t be—I don’t blame you. If I was in charge of Tsukuyomi-san, I think I would have gone crazy weeks ago.”

“I’m wondering if I did,” Setsuna admitted. She extricated her hands from her partner’s and tried not to look at how much of Tsukuyomi’s blood was all over them.

“Well,” Konoka said, wrapping her arms tightly around Setsuna and keeping her from moving any further away, “even if you did, that’s okay. Crazy Set-chan is cute.”

Setsuna ducked her head, attempting to hide her horribly flushed face from view. Konoka laughed softly at the reaction and squeezed her closer. They both stayed in contented (if slightly embarrassed on Setsuna’s side) silence for several moments before Konoka spoke up again.

“Do you still want to be the one guarding Tsukuyomi-san?”

“Yes,” Setsuna said with mortifying promptness.

“So,” Konoka said, pulling away, “you just have to make sure that she doesn’t keep up with her, um, hobbies anymore, right?”

Setsuna smiled ruefully. “It’s harder than it sounds… I didn’t even think to ask about what happened to her pencil. When she said it broke, I just got her a new one and…” She gestured to the fitfully sleeping girl on the bed.

“But you still want to do it.”

“I—yes.”

“And is worrying going to help with that?”

Setsuna was beginning to feel like a small child being lectured. “No.”

Konoka clapped her hands together. “So what does that tell you?

“That I should stop worrying,” Setsuna chanted obediently.

“You’re worried?”

Konoka and Setsuna both jumped at the sudden question from the supposedly unconscious Tsukuyomi. The blonde was sitting up and clinging to the bloody sheets. She looked more spacey than usual, but other than that and the blood all over everything, no one would have known that she had been so close to death such a short time ago.

Setsuna leapt up from her chair and stepped closer to the bed, trying very, very hard not to notice the overwhelming relief blossoming in her chest. “Are you okay?”

Tsukuyomi raised an eyebrow in confusion at the question, almost making Setsuna blush when she realized just how ridiculous she was being about this. It wasn’t like this was the first time Tsukuyomi had passed out from blood loss. Compared to how badly injured she was after their fight, this was nothing.

“Oh? You were worried about me then? That’s sweet of you.”

------

Tsukuyomi’s eyes trailed down to stare at Setsuna’s hands, her bleariness immediately vanishing when she took in how much of her blood was smeared all over her precious senpai. How had that gotten there?

Wait—she could remember splitting open her arm with the pencil.

That was it then.

She did feel a bit less cold, so she couldn’t really complain, but she wished it hadn’t been necessary. She had something of a record going for not needing to do that, and it was always better to make someone else bleed anyways.

Hold on, though… Her arm. Something was wrong.

There was no pain.

She yanked aside the heated sheets and looked down at her arm.

Now see, that just wasn’t right. The relaxing warmth of her blood was there, but there was no wound. How had that happened? She ran her fingers over her arm, prodding where there was supposed to be a bloody gash, but she could only feel smooth skin.

“You really don’t need to though. It doesn’t look like I need fixing.” As curious as that was, it wasn’t something to be worried about. Tsukuyomi poked harder, but there really didn’t seem to be anything there. Not even a scar.

“Not anymore,” Setsuna said with a strange amount of sharpness. “You cut deeply enough that Ojou-sama needed to heal you.”

Tsukuyomi took in the amount of blood on the sheets before glancing at the third girl in the room briefly. She didn’t bother to correct Setsuna’s assumption—she wasn’t positive that she was remembering correctly yet.

“Sorry Tsukuyomi-san; I didn’t think to wash the blood off.”

Meeting Konoka’s eyes, Tsukuyomi smiled. “Don’t worry about it Konoka-sama. I like it better like this.”

Something that felt entirely too much like fear chilled Tsukuyomi’s tolerably lukewarm skin and she edged away from her Senpai. She almost wanted the Setsuna from yesterday that was all too willing to ignore her. At least then she wouldn’t have to—

Uh uh.

Great. Now she had a headache.

Konoka coughed lightly. “Um, Set-chan, I’m going to go ahead and go so you two can talk. I’ll see you Monday, okay?” She barely had an answer out of Setsuna before she leaned over to kiss her cheek and started out the room, leaving her partner to stutter an embarrassed goodbye.

Tsukuyomi scowled at that, feeling incredibly irritated all of a sudden. The feeling only got worse when Setsuna stared at the door for several seconds after Konoka left before shaking herself and sitting back down on a chair that definitely hadn’t been there the last time Tsukuyomi woke up.

They both looked at each other for a few moments before Tsukuyomi’s gaze naturally drifted back down to Setsuna’s bloody hands.

She knew it wasn’t really Setsuna’s blood, but the red still looked lovely on her senpai’s pale skin. Tsukuyomi pulled her sheets back up around her, taking in the warmth left over from her blood. It was comfortable, but she was right. Even including the blood on Setsuna and Konoka, there wasn’t anywhere near enough.

So she was remembering correctly. That burning that filled her wasn’t from the blood. Setsuna grabbed her arm and tried to stop the bleeding.

Adrenaline started to feel her veins and she had to fight to keep her breathing steady. How many years had it been since she’d felt that? If she didn’t know what happened when she got too caught up in Setsuna now, she’d be very annoyed that she passed out before she could properly take in the feeling.

At least this time she passed out before…

Pathetic, really. She knew she reacted strongly to Setsuna, but she had thought she had more self-control than this. She’d lasted longer without spilling blood when she was on Fate’s payroll. It couldn’t just be that she was constantly around her senpai, could it?

Not that Tsukuyomi could really say for sure what Setsuna did to her at this point. She rubbed at her bloody arm. Did Konoka really have to heal her?

And if she kept ignoring the awkward silence, would Setsuna go away? They had managed a whole day without talking already. Why break a perfectly nice record?

Her musings were interrupted by Setsuna reaching out to fidget with a stray thread on the sheets. Tsukuyomi jerked back, putting some distance between her and Setsuna’s temptingly warm hands.

“Don’t touch me.”

Setsuna’s eyes widened guiltily and she pulled back her hand. “I wasn’t—sorry.”

Tsukuyomi shrugged and shifted a few inches away from the edge of the bed, trying to pretend that her heart wasn’t racing. This was so unfair. She liked Setsuna. Why did she have to have such an aversion to killing the one person she genuinely liked? It wasn’t any fair!

“Tsukuyomi?”

The girl in question sighed. “Yes, Senpai?”

“The other day—I’m sorry for losing my temper. I was out of line.”

Tsukuyomi rolled her eyes and felt herself start to smile. “Don’t apologize. In case you couldn’t tell, I like seeing you lose control.” Whatever her current problems were, and however Setsuna seemed to inspire them, that was still very much true.

“I scared you.”

Tsukuyomi lost all traces of her smile. “You saw that.”

Setsuna nodded, but kept her eyes glued to the floor. Her shoulders were tensed, her fists were balled, and guilt was written all over the parts of her face Tsukuyomi could see. Tsukuyomi looked away and tried to press her warm sheets closer to her skin, determined to stay quiet.

Emotions were, in general, squishy, messy things. Acknowledging their presence in the first place tended to make everything worse (especially in the case of Fate’s overly emotional underlings), and talking about them was just pointless.

Really, she didn’t like thinking about them in the first place, so what could possibly be the point of sharing her unhappiness? Admittedly, the idea of sharing things with Setsuna wasn’t something she could automatically dismiss simply because it was Setsuna, but there was no point.

…She didn’t think that miserable look on Setsuna’s face was leaving.

“You didn’t scare me,” Tsukuyomi said quietly. “It’s just that when you touch me…” She rested her chin in her hands and tried to work out the best way to explain it.

“Your touch excites me too much,” she finally settled on.

“What?” Setsuna squeaked.

Tsukuyomi tapped her fingers against her cheek. “It made me consider something that I really didn’t want to, so I got—scared. But,” she looked over and met Setsuna’s mortified gaze, “I like you far too much to be afraid of you.”

Setsuna did a remarkable impression of a goldfish for nearly a minute. It made Tsukuyomi smile a little—Senpai was still Senpai after all. “Ah—o-okay.”

More silence, much more comfortable than earlier, fell. Tsukuyomi curled up on her side so she could watch the embarrassed, conflicted emotions flash across Setsuna’s face. There was a smear of blood on her cheek.

For a very odd second, Tsukuyomi wanted to reach over and brush it away, just to have an excuse to touch Setsuna. Then she remembered that doing that would probably make her want to kill Setsuna, and that was bad. So she contented herself with taking in the contrast of her blood against Setsuna’s pale white skin.

At least, she did until Setsuna regained her composure and smoothed away the blood herself. Tsukuyomi pouted. Her blood looked so much more appetizing when it was spattered on Setsuna’s flesh.

“Is it the blood?”

“Huh?” Tsukuyomi said ineloquently. She hadn’t realized she was still expected to be participating in a conversation. It wasn’t like Setsuna usually volunteered for casual discussion. She tended to do everything possible to avoid it.

Setsuna clasped her hands together, rubbing flakes of dried blood off her fingernails. She tilted her head and let her eyes fall to Tsukuyomi’s covered arm.

“I’m not going to tell the headmaster about this,” she said very quickly. “So… so… I think I should know what ‘this’ is.”

Tsukuyomi raised her eyebrows. Well now, she hadn’t even gotten around to considering the problems other people objectively caring about her wellbeing could cause. “My, my… you’re willing to lie for me? That’s not really proper behavior for someone like you, is it?”

“Tsukuyomi…” Setsuna sighed. “Could you just tell me?”

“You didn’t care nearly so much last time,” Tsukuyomi said mildly. “Or at all. Does this mean you care now? If you were just being a responsible guard, lying wouldn’t even cross your mind, so it’s not that. What has you so curious?”

“That was years ago,” Setsuna snapped. “I barely knew you.”

Tsukuyomi grinned at her Senpai’s defensive tone. “And you’ve gone to so much trouble since then to get to know me better.” Setsuna glared at her. Tsukuyomi shrugged and started watching the tension gathering in Setsuna’s wrists. Her veins and tendons were standing out so prominently that it was incredibly easy to imagine—

Struck by a sudden inability to breathe properly, Tsukuyomi cleared her throat. “Haven’t I told you before? For me, there’s no greater pleasure than spilling someone’s blood. Right now, mine just happens to be the only kind available, so I have to manage with that.” She almost asked if Setsuna would like to volunteer hers before she remembered her current issues with her roommate.

“But—why—?”

Tsukuyomi smiled. “Not everything needs to be complicated, Setsuna-senpai. It’s warm. And tasty. I like it.”

------

Setsuna watched Tsukuyomi’s blood flow down the drain.

Something about what the girl said was bothering her. It was strange—compared to everything else that had happened today, it seemed so small, but it refused to leave her alone.

She wasn’t even sure that Tsukuyomi meant it that way… she really didn’t know anything that she didn’t before.

But…

Setsuna bowed her head, pressing it against the cool edge of the sink.

Tsukuyomi never slept properly. But she was definitely getting worse. Her shivering was violent enough that it woke Setsuna up sometimes, and in the beginning, the noise had only made it hard to get to sleep.

After Konoka healed her… had it gotten better?

She couldn’t be sure. She’d have to ask Tsukuyomi if she really wanted to know.

She didn’t want to know. Even if she was right, she couldn’t think of anything to do about it. Not anything practical at least.

And besides, she was probably imagining it.

------

Tsukuyomi was feeling very, very confused as she watched Setsuna sleep.

It was happening again.

That strange yearning to touch her senpai. Only this time, there was no blood. There was just Setsuna’s perfectly unblemished skin. It didn’t make any sense to just want to touch her. Hadn’t she learned anything?

She couldn’t kill her. No matter how badly she wanted to, she couldn’t have Setsuna dead.

Tsukuyomi sighed and shut her eyes, forcing away the fear her all-too vivid imagination was causing.

She didn’t like this. She didn’t like this at all.

Other people had trouble with killing. Not her. Other people got so confused and scared over the thought of their precious person dying that they—

Tsukuyomi’s eyes snapped open.

Setsuna-senpai is my precious person.

She sat up in her bed and stared down at her sleeping roommate, watching the steady rise and fall of her chest. Setsuna’s pulse fluttered in her neck. She was very obviously alive; exactly the way Tsukuyomi wanted her.

Tsukuyomi could feel her heart start to beat faster. A sticky, sappy feeling was flowing through her veins, making her skin buzz in contentment.

I’m… in love with her.

…

Well.

That certainly explains a lot.

Spoiler for Notes:

Now there's a revelation that's not going to cause anyone any trouble of any sort!

Ahem.

I probably should have mentioned it earlier, but this chapter relies pretty heavily on the prequel for background, so if you haven't read that already, you really should. Or at least the final scene of it.

The Chao Bao Zi. From the outside, it really didn't look like much. But once inside, the mere scent of delicious food filling the whole cart restaurant was enough to nearly mesmerize young Mr. Springfield.

It wasn't just the smell floating all around, however. It was also the warm and homely feeling you could get from simply stepping into the old wagon turned stall.

"It feels almost like being back at home, despite it being so different" he marveled as he sat at a table with Chisame and Hakase.

"Hmm" Chisame hummed while looking through the menu. "Did you eat Chinese takeout often back at home?".

"Never" he denied. "I don't mean exactly that, it's just... this oddly familiar feeling. It's like you almost can touch the labor of love put here...".

"Chao is very passionate about everything she does" Satomi observed calmly. "She gives one hundred percent of herself to all of her activities".

"Nihao, Negi-bozu!" 2-A Student Number Twelve, Ku Fei, passed by before their table, rolling around on skates, wearing a red sleeveless Chinese dress and carrying a large food tray on each hand. "Nihao, Hakase-chan!".

Chisame scoffed at being apparently ignored. "Always the same thing".

"Call me 'Negi-sensei', please!" Negi protested at the heavily accented Chinese girl and then sighed in defeat. "First Kasuga-san, now her... at this rate, the other teachers will look down at me soon...".

"You knew the job was dangerous when you took it" Hasegawa dryly cracked, although the way her roommates looked at her outright told her neither of them got the reference. "Super Chicken" she said.

Negi just laughed, amused, until he noticed someone was glaring at him from another table. He discretely looked back to see a beautiful girl, two or three years older than his students, with long black hair and wearing a black motorcycle outfit, quietly, yet grimly eating a bowl of ramen while staring at him from afair.

"Girls?" he whispered.

"What?" Chisame asked.

The boy kept his voice very low. "Who's that girl over there?".

Both of them looked into the direction Negi's own eyes were taking as low-profile as possible.

"Beats me" Chisame said. "I think she's a Sempai from high school, but I don't know her name".

"Neither do I" Hakase added. "Haven't you taught her any classes yet?".

Negi flipped through his booklet, detailing the class rosters he had to cover both at his homeroom and as an English instructor elsewhere. Finally he settled at High School Class 1-A's pictures, where he found the one he was looking for. "Kuga Natsuki-san, no membership at any club, no other information given. But I don't remember ever seeing her there...".

"She skips classes often, from what I have heard" a soft, feathery voice came from his right side, making him to look at the suddenly there, as if arrived from nowhere, plump and gentle looking 2-A Student Number Thirty, Yotsuba Satsuki. "She eats here almost every day, but never talks to anyone".

"Ah, hello, Yotsuba-san!" Negi quickly bowed.

"Hello, Yotsuba" Chisame greeted cordially enough. The chef was one of the few classmates she could actually tolerate, but then again, everyone loved her.

"Ah, Sacchan!" Satomi perked up, with a tone she rarely had used in the time Negi had spent with her. "Bring Negi-sensei a special stamina soup and some nikkuman, will you? He will need all the energy he can gather for his second week at the job".

"It sounds good" he nodded. "Hakase-san knows your specialities far better than me, so I'll go with her choice. Although everything in this menu seems delicious".

"Thank you for the kind words" Yotsuba smiled softly.

"The same for me then" Chisame spoke.

"A few ribs with spicy sauce and salad for me" the scientist asked before looking all around. "By the way, where is Chachamaru? Shouldn't she be serving the tables with you today?".

"Evangeline-san arrived early and took her away" Satsuki explained while taking her order. "They said they had something urgent to work on".

"I see" Hakase nodded, slightly spaced out in her own unreadable thoughts by now.

Chisame, on the other hand, noticed Negi suddenly looking more concerned as of that moment. "Is there anything wrong?".

He shook his head. "No... Nothing!".

"How was Kasuga, by the way?" the cosplayer questioned. "Feeling any better now?".

Negi's cheeks gained the briefest reddish shine as he remembered that morning's kiss, but then he just laughed it off. "Yeah, she's fine by now! She told me she'd come back to classes tomorrow!".

"Great, another piece of insanity back at the old classroom" Hasegawa observed in a detached tone.

She had just noticed his blush, of course, even though Hakase obviously hadn't. But if he thought she'd ask him about it, he had another thing coming.

Late that night, Chisame half opened her eyes to look at the wall clock in the room's darkness. 11:00 P.M., it read, and yet the problem child was still at it. Sitting with his back turned to them next to his futon, he seemed to be working on something even now. Fixing smelly potion after smelly potion, flipping through tome after tome of ancient Welsh lore, and polishing his wand at random intervals as if hoping it'd help him with something.

Polishing an actual magical wand, that was. Otherwise, she'd have kicked him out of the room right then and there. At least she thought it was some kind of silly fairy tale magic wand; it certainly looked like something you'd see in a storybook's illustrations.

"Sensei" she hoarsely called out. "Go to bed already".

"Just a few minutes more, Hasegawa-san" his voice replied quietly.

"We have classes tomorrow. Stop doing that right now; I can't sleep with that horrible stench".

"It's diluted, concentrated garlic, isn't it?" Hakase's voice softly asked from the bottom bunk. Chisame blinked, surprised to hear she was awake, and even sounding slightly concerned. "Do you actually believe that will function to any degree against that supposed vampiric creature that obsesses you?".

Chisame sat up on the bed. "What? You still intend to chase that vampire thing? Stupid brat, do you want to get yourself killed? Even if it's only a human pervert on the loose, I don't think your kindergarten magic will do any good if that psycho's packing a gun!".

"Protecting my students is my duty" he replied, still not looking back at them.

"You're a teacher, not a cop! And look at us while we're talking to you!" Chisame yelled.

At the next darkened room, Ayase Yue, wearing a thick and long blue sleeping robe, lying on her bed reading a book under the faint light of a small lamp, closed the tome and tilted her head towards the wall separating them from their neighbors. The words came muffled and incoherent, but the emotion behind them was unmistakable.

"They're at it again" she whispered.

Nodoka hummed a weak "Ah-hah" from the top bunk, confirming her own waking state.

"Chisame had never been so noisy before" Yue said. "I guess it must be taxing, to live with a child".

"I... I don't think so. Not in Negi-sensei's case, anyway" Nodoka shyly answered. "He seems very different from any other boy I've ever met".

Nodoka smiled to herself, not really noticing the warm redness washing over her own face. "He may be overwhelmed and confusing, but it feels really good to have him there. He isn't like most of the other teachers; he actually cares".

"It's true" the shorter girl dryly stated. "Sad as it may be, sooner or later, the weight of real life's burdens will turn him from idealistic dreamer into just another chalkboard pusher".

"I— I don't think so" Nodoka differed, her voice gaining a rare stubbornness that made Yue to take notice. "I can feel he's different in that way, too. I want to hope the best from him".

"Nodoka, that's very cute and all, but... reality will always crush that kind of hopeless dreams. It's the way life works" the girl with the large forehead started, just to be cut short when her roommate peeked her head down to look at her, smiling.

And she was simply so cute when she smiled...

"I don't think so" Nodoka impishly said.

"Oh, no? And why's that?".

Nodoka made a tiny giggle. "You are living proof of it".

"Me?" Yue hoped the darkness was enough to hide her blush. "Why me?".

"You and Paru were the only ones who never lost your hopes on me... back when I was all alone and locked into myself, and no one ever wanted to talk to me" Nodoka fondly remembered. "But you reached for me, against all odds. I'll never forget that, Yue-Yue".

Ayase found herself slowly smiling back at her. "Neither will I. Never".

"Maybe Negi-sensei will do the same for them?" Nodoka hopefully looked at the wall, as if hoping to see through it.

"Maybe" Yue conceded. "But first— Hey, what is that noise at the window?" she asked.

Nodoka looked towards the darkened window of their room, leading to a small balcony, now. Something seemed to be knocking and scratching at it. "P-Perhaps it's only one of Sakurako's cats" she nervously stammered, remembering the vampire scare stories while going down the bunk's stairs.

However, Yue was faster and got back to her feet, setting her book aside. "I'll look at it" she said, without any actual fear, taking the lead.

Chisame was already pushing Negi into his futon when both of them and Hakase heard it all. Glass being shattered, and two brief but blood curling screams.

Even the normally absent Satomi perked up in alert. "Miyazaki!".

"And Ayase" Hasegawa completed, going just slightly pale.

"Too soon!" Negi bolted out of the futon, only stopping long enough to grab his wand, some bottles and his bandaged staff, then to storm out of the room and into the outside hall, running to the librarians' door to bang loudly on it. "MIYAZAKI-SAN! AYASE-SAN! ARE YOU OKAY?!".

Chisame ran out right after him, rushing to cover him up with a coat. "For the Kami's sake, Sensei! You're still barefoot and in pajamas. Maybe they just broke a vase...".

"How much do you spend on doors at that lab every month?" Chisame asked her.

"Ask yourselves that later" Negi whispered while walking inside, tense but resolute. "Go call Takamichi and stay over at Izumi-san's room down the hall. Douse yourselves with the garlic formulas and—".

"What the hell do you think you're doing, venturing all alone into two girls' room like that, and with possible danger ahead to boot?!" Chisame followed him in, closely shadowed by Satomi, and tried to grab him by an arm. "You'll get yourself killed, either by them, or by IT!".

Then all three of them could do nothing but stare and gasp in terror at the scene waiting for them at the bedroom, which door had been just blown open from the inside.

Miyazaki Nodoka had fainted at the feet of the bed, sprawled all over the carpet.

And Ayase Yue laid unconscious, with her violet eyes fully open and staring into the vacuum, into the arms of a small blond figure floating over the balcony, out into the open night. The attacker had her mouth firmly sunk into Yue's neck, sucking loudly, with delight and gluttony, until she lifted her head slowly, licking her sharp teeth and her bloodied mouth.

"Evangeline!" Chisame gasped, caught by a sudden horror she never had felt before.

Evangeline Mc Dowell smiled evilly at the trio.

"Boyo" she purred, throatily. "This little snack has done nothing but leaving me even more thirsty... I suppose you could help me with that?".

Oh, now I'm back and I'm bad. Here's another part of Nodoka's adventures on Tu'narath.

Spoiler for Reboot:

“So, we're going to show you the basics of a few magic styles we've seen over the years, coupled with some martial arts training here in Boa, and within the week, you'd be dangerous to fight again. Does that sound good?” Ashracai asked Nodoka.

“Well...” The bookworm started off, but she was cut off.

“No.” Fashtar said right behind them, standing next to a pedestal with a veil above something round that wasn't there before. “That does not sound good at all.”

“Fash?” Efromm asked. “What are you saying?”

“I'm saying, Efromm, that while the foundation of the idea is good, there are key flaws to it right now as it is.” Fashtar told them. “And before you start yapping, I'll tell you the two biggest: Location and time. Location: We're still in sight of Mt. Ilsensine, and not far from where Nodoka's last battle was. If one were to do the simple geographics, we're the only place around that she could turn to for safety. Meaning, the Illithids could come back and enslave us all without us even noticing it. And Drinde is still out there. He could find this place in a jiffy. Time: It's too short. A week or so is not going to cut it. For all her powers yet, Nodoka was born without natural talent for magic, unlike our sorcerers, not to mention that it took her months of practice and study to be at her current level.”

“So what are you suggesting, we send Nodoka to school or something?” Ashracai mocked the military commander. Ergo, the Imperium's best commander, but still.

“That's exactly what I am suggesting, Lord Ashracai.” Fashtar replied, procuring a bunch of official papers and handing them over to Nodoka. “I've already filled in applications, all that's needed are her own name, date of birth, signature, etc. I've also intended to hold speech lessons with her one-on-one for learning Draconic.”

Nodoka looked through the papers, wearing those glasses that Ashracai had made to understand foreign writing. She didn't know fully what they were talking about. “And how long do you intend for her training to go on, if we follow this plan?”

“Fourteen-” Fashtar told him but was cut off himself.

“Fourteen days?” Ashracai asked. “That's just twice as long and-”

“Fourteen years.” The eye-patched Githyanki told them sternly, surprising everybody. “Seven years in school, seven years of field practice. I've taken precaution to this.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Rufus stopped the gith there for a moment. “Fashtar, we get your proposal to the concept, but just what in Baator are your reasons for going this far? You didn't think this up, did you?”

“First: The civil war with Ifrith.” Fashtar countered immediately. “Regardless of what is going on and what is about to happen, High King Ifrith is still the number one villain for Nodoka. He is a man with military experience who's been on the throne of Samasal for 500 years, giving him centuries of strategic thinking, not to mention a vast pool of soldiers to start with. Plus, he could very well get the aid of Samasal's own magocracy while he's at gaining support against Nodoka and her own small band of allies. Granted, you and Efromm are her allies, but it will still take weeks before you can muster a proper assault on Samasal. By then, Ifith will have mounted a powerful defense against two fronts.”

“Er... that's a good reasoning... wait, first?”

“Second: Fate Averruncus.” Fashtar continued. “From what I've been told second-hand, he is here, along with an X amount of followers. We have no idea where he is, but we do know why: he's working with that bitch Vlaakith CLVII, meaning he and Nodoka are going to clash again. Translated, Nodoka is up against a mage that her own master couldn't beat on his own, and she was, what, the weakest of his partners... in comparison to the others of the White Wing? Now here she is, alone without her more familiar party members, against a powerful construct mage that could easily kill her in just one shot. Don't know about you, but I sure am not taking that shot.”

“Ger... can't really argue with that...”

“Third: Drinde. As I said earlier, he is still out there and he's regenerating himself, or trying to find a healer to patch him up. We know that that thing is out for Nodoka as well, meaning the end of our race. You're the one who confronted him, Ashracai and you come up with a lame idea like this? A week simple practice out in the open? There is a chance of 64% that Drinde could very well ambush us in that time and since he's supposedly only harmable by the gods, what chance do you think we have against him?”

“Well, we could teleport him against his own will...”

“Yes and put him where?” Fashtar countered. “Wherever he'll pop in, there is bound to be catastrophe in his wake. As much as Nodoka is the main objective to protect, I'd rather not have that lich wander around freely on my world. We all know that teleporting into space doesn't work either, too.”

“I see your point.”

“I'm not done yet. Fourth: Nodoka's arm. She lost her right arm in a direct confrontation with Drinde, and she got lucky in that the old priest destroyed Drinde's body, albeit temporarily. Even so, she lost her arm in the process. The psychological trauma to that could still remain and when she meets him again, what do you think would happen? I for one want her to be fully prepared next time they meet, not freezing up in front of him, making it an easy win for Drinde. And finally fifth: The Illithids. Those A-holes are still out there, too, with Kas-Far, using her old sword, which was indestructible if I recall things correctly, as the foundation for his body. Not to mention that he was connected to the Elder Brain, meaning he's got near god-like psionic powers. We're talking level 10 here, maybe even higher. None of us here, save Rad'na, is level 10, meaning we can say bye-bye to our Will saves and then we're Illithid snacks for weeks. Need I continue my reasoning?”

“That's not needed.” Nodoka spoke up, catching their attention. “This matter is about me, no one else. It's for me to decide in the end. Fashtar-san makes a valuable fundamental answer, which is very thought through, with the reasons in full understanding.” She said, rubbing her newly regained right arm. “I'll do it. I'll take the school course.”

“Good.” Fashtar let out a deep breath. “Any questions before we start?”

“A few. You have taken precaution to the fourteen years of training I'm gonna be put through?” Nodoka asked first.

“Of course.” He told her and revealed underneath the veil a large resort. “You're familiar with this kind of dimension magic, Nodoka. You'll be spending fourteen years in there, whilst the rest of us, I hope, will be out here for a week.”

“Given this amount of reasoning, you would be a mage, yourself, Fashtar-san?” Nodoka inquired nex.

“...Yes. I was not born a Sorcerer like your dad, but I have taken lessons in magic, effectively making me a Wizard, instead.” Fashtar told her, revealing that bit of knowledge about himself. “Anything else?”

“...You do have something to counter the aging effects while I'm in there, right?” She asked nervously.

“Would I have said 'fourteen years' right off the bat if we didn't?” Fashtar countered with his own question and smirk.

“Oh. Well, that makes thing easier, then.” Nodoka said. “Let me just tell Symon-san and Jashol-san where I'll be, and then we can get underway, okay?”

“Sure.”

Spoiler for Notes:

- For those of you who remember, I posted this scene earlier in this thread, say: The first page. After weeks of writing and finally reaching this part, I thought: It needs to be redone.

- What Fashtar is suggesting is that they take Nodoka to learn the good old D&D magic, which comes in eight schools.

Spoiler for Magic of D&D:

PREPARING WIZARD SPELLS
A wizard’s level limits the number of spells she can prepare and cast. Her high Intelligence score might allow her to prepare a few extra spells. She can prepare the same spell more than once, but each preparation counts as one spell toward her daily limit. To prepare a spell the wizard must have an Intelligence score of at least 10 + the spell’s level.

Rest: To prepare her daily spells, a wizard must first sleep for 8 hours. The wizard does not have to slumber for every minute of the time, but she must refrain from movement, combat, spellcasting, skill use, conversation, or any other fairly demanding physical or mental task during the rest period. If her rest is interrupted, each interruption adds 1 hour to the total amount of time she has to rest in order to clear her mind, and she must have at least 1 hour of uninterrupted rest immediately prior to preparing her spells. If the character does not need to sleep for some reason, she still must have 8 hours of restful calm before preparing any spells.

Recent Casting Limit/Rest Interruptions: If a wizard has cast spells recently, the drain on her resources reduces her capacity to prepare new spells. When she prepares spells for the coming day, all the spells she has cast within the last 8 hours count against her daily limit.

Preparation Environment: To prepare any spell, a wizard must have enough peace, quiet, and comfort to allow for proper concentration. The wizard’s surroundings need not be luxurious, but they must be free from overt distractions. Exposure to inclement weather prevents the necessary concentration, as does any injury or failed saving throw the character might experience while studying. Wizards also must have access to their spellbooks to study from and sufficient light to read them by. There is one major exception: A wizard can prepare a read magic spell even without a spellbook.

Spell Preparation Time: After resting, a wizard must study her spellbook to prepare any spells that day. If she wants to prepare all her spells, the process takes 1 hour. Preparing some smaller portion of her daily capacity takes a proportionally smaller amount of time, but always at least 15 minutes, the minimum time required to achieve the proper mental state.

Spell Selection and Preparation: Until she prepares spells from her spellbook, the only spells a wizard has available to cast are the ones that she already had prepared from the previous day and has not yet used. During the study period, she chooses which spells to prepare. If a wizard already has spells prepared (from the previous day) that she has not cast, she can abandon some or all of them to make room for new spells.

When preparing spells for the day, a wizard can leave some of these spell slots open. Later during that day, she can repeat the preparation process as often as she likes, time and circumstances permitting. During these extra sessions of preparation, the wizard can fill these unused spell slots. She cannot, however, abandon a previously prepared spell to replace it with another one or fill a slot that is empty because she has cast a spell in the meantime. That sort of preparation requires a mind fresh from rest. Like the first session of the day, this preparation takes at least 15 minutes, and it takes longer if the wizard prepares more than one-quarter of her spells.

Spell Slots: The various character class tables show how many spells of each level a character can cast per day. These openings for daily spells are called spell slots. A spellcaster always has the option to fill a higher-level spell slot with a lower-level spell. A spellcaster who lacks a high enough ability score to cast spells that would otherwise be his or her due still gets the slots but must fill them with spells of lower level.

Prepared Spell Retention: Once a wizard prepares a spell, it remains in her mind as a nearly cast spell until she uses the prescribed components to complete and trigger it or until she abandons it. Certain other events, such as the effects of magic items or special attacks from monsters, can wipe a prepared spell from a character’s mind.

Death and Prepared Spell Retention: If a spellcaster dies, all prepared spells stored in his or her mind are wiped away. Potent magic (such as raise dead, resurrection, or true resurrection) can recover the lost energy when it recovers the character.

This was drawn from an SRD site with focus on how to create a tabletop character, rather than on the universe itself.

Spoiler for School Specialization:

A school is one of eight groupings of spells, each defined by a common theme. If desired, a wizard may specialize in one school of magic (see below). Specialization allows a wizard to cast extra spells from her chosen school, but she then never learns to cast spells from some other schools.

A specialist wizard can prepare one additional spell of her specialty school per spell level each day. She also gains a +2 bonus on Spellcraft checks to learn the spells of her chosen school.

The wizard must choose whether to specialize and, if she does so, choose her specialty at 1st level. At this time, she must also give up two other schools of magic (unless she chooses to specialize in divination; see below), which become her prohibited schools. A wizard can never give up divination to fulfill this requirement. Spells of the prohibited school or schools are not available to the wizard, and she can’t even cast such spells from scrolls or fire them from wands. She may not change either her specialization or her prohibited schools later.

The eight schools of arcane magic are abjuration, conjuration, divination, enchantment, evocation, illusion, necromancy, and transmutation. Spells that do not fall into any of these schools are called universal spells.

Abjuration: Spells that protect, block, or banish. An abjuration specialist is called an abjurer.

Conjuration: Spells that bring creatures or materials to the caster. A conjuration specialist is called a conjurer.

Divination: Spells that reveal information. A divination specialist is called a diviner. Unlike the other specialists, a diviner must give up only one other school.

Enchantment: Spells that imbue the recipient with some property or grant the caster power over another being. An enchantment specialist is called an enchanter.

Evocation: Spells that manipulate energy or create something from nothing. An evocation specialist is called an evoker.

Illusion: Spells that alter perception or create false images. An illusion specialist is called an illusionist.

Necromancy: Spells that manipulate, create, or destroy life or life force. A necromancy specialist is called a necromancer.

Transmutation: Spells that transform the recipient physically or change its properties in a more subtle way. A transmutation specialist is called a transmuter.

Universal: Not a school, but a category for spells that all wizards can learn. A wizard cannot select universal as a specialty school or as a prohibited school. Only a limited number of spells fall into this category.

- He also suggested in that she takes lessons in speaking Draconic, the language of the ancient dragons. By this, I'm playing two cards here. The first one is basically that a spell can be said in any language, as long as you know what effect you want. The second card comes from the Disney series Gargoyles: The older a language is, the more venerable it is. The more venerable a language is, the bigger effect it'll have. Rethorical question: How old do you think Draconic is?

With that in mind, what school do you propose that Nodoka should specialize in?

Hard to say each have thier own merits :Abjuration Divination, and Illusion fit her best, then again the diary and psychic ability could make up for Divination. Transmutation and Evocation could settle the arm issue, but Evocation offers a lot to work with plot; then again since you gave her a sword Enchantment would be a way to take advantage of that, but Negima is already so overstocked with it isn't that much to get excited about. Personally I'd go with either Evocation or universal. Evocation would make the reunion so much more interesting and offer a natural incentive to pursue as well offering an in character way gaining support from an oppressed people. I also suggest Universal simply because of the flexibility.

Spoiler for thoughts:

I am wondering two things who is going to be entrusted with such an extensive and sensitive job and didn't they already run into more friendly members of Nodoka's classmates?

The small floating figure in black sneered at her with some dark amusement. "Please, Hakase Satomi. Is there any need to act so surprised? You KNEW there was something supernatural behind me. Hardly my fault if you chose to turn a blind eye to it".

"W-Well, it wasn't my research venue!" Satomi rushed the words out, inwardly calculating her own speed rate at reaching the door and comparing it against her rough estimate of a vampiric creature's attack speed. She didn't like the results. "Then again, if you would be willing to cooperate by lending your body to me—".

"What?" Evangeline lifted an eyebrow.

"For strictly experimentation purposes, of course—" Hakase attempted to make her point clear.

"That STILL came out wrong" Chisame scowled.

The blonde took her head back to laugh coldly. "I have always liked that about you, Hakase Satomi! Too stupid to realize the dangers around you, a true example of what they call 'human courage'! Because you amuse me, you can leave now. My goals don't include you".

Satomi seemed truly tempted to run away then, but something kept her rooted to the floor. "What have you done to Chachamaru?" she asked.

"Oh-hoh?" the petite vampiress huffed. "Ah, I see. Gifted with maternal instincts too, after all. Relax. You, better than anyone, know I have too many uses for her. As long as that stands, I won't ever hurt her".

"Um, can I go too?" Chisame sheepishly asked, trying to drag Negi away with herself, only to learn, much to her frustration, he was standing his ground with shocking stubborness.

Her bizarrely... vampiric classmate shot her a piercing angry glare. "Not with him!".

"Go" Negi told his roommates, gesturing with his head toward the door behind them. "Just take Miyazaki-san to a safe place, right now!".

"But—" Chisame doubted.

"Listen to him, morons" Evangeline growled, icily. "Flee for your worthless lives while you still have them".

"I won't leave until I have certified Chachamaru is in optimal conditions myself!" Satomi protested, not moving an inch now. Somehow, the shorter girl's threats had just spurred her on.

"Geez, Hakase!" Chisame clenched her teeth. "Robots don't have any blood to suck!".

Evangeline's expression turned completely blank and jaded. "As you wish" she droned, then to make a wicked small grin. "Catch".

Without any prior warning, she tossed Yue's limp body forward, forcing him to drop the staff on reflex to catch her in his arms. Before he could even lower Yue, Evangeline flew in with a wide, perverse smile, grabbing him by the throat and roughly pushing him against a wall.

"Son of the Thousand Master" Evangeline hissed deeply, narrowing her eyes as her mouth hovered over his incipient Adam's apple. "You have no idea of how long have I waited for this. Fifteen years of humiliation and shame will end up tonight... washed away with your blood!".

"You were born from him. That's more than enough for me" she snarled, lowering her mouth dangerously close to his skin. "And you don't need to know anything els—".

"LET HIM GO!!" Chisame's yell took her by surprise, and the next thing she knew was a large and thick hardcover was being smashed from behind against her face. The force of the hit was not that big at all, but the mere shock made her to back away, releasing the boy.

She passed a hand over her nose, feeling it leaky. To her absolute indignation, she found it bleeding. Bleeding! Quickly, she licked the blood off her fingers before giving the hacker a venomous stare.

"Hasegawa Chisame..." she roared, chomping the air madly with her sharp teeth, "After I'm done with him, you impudent worm are next!!".

"M-Me?!" Chisame yelped, stepping back as she still held the deluxe Bram Stoker's Dracula she had just taken from Yue's desk in a mad bid for something big and heavy.

With a wave of a hand, the blonde projected a small shield of mystical energy around herself, instantly blocking the spell before it could reach her. The magical air blast was tossed all across the room, and Negi barely could jump in time to push Hakase with himself out of the way of one of the disarming bursts' way.

However, Chisame's shriek half a second later told him she hadn't been so fortunate.

"Hasegawa-san...?" he hesitated, looking into her direction only to quickly avert his gaze, blushing deep red.

"YOU INFERNAL BRAT!!" Chisame was just as red, her clothes blown off, covering her chest and crotch with her hands as best as she could. "DON'T LOOK THIS WAY!!".

"You'd better take a drink from this!" Negi yelled, pulling a few tiny bottles out and flipping them open in a single swift motion of his fingers, throwing their content all over Evangeline.

"What?? AAAARRRGHHH!!" Evangeline screeched to a halt, screaming as he attempted to rub the liquids off herself. "Why, damn you!! You're just as bad as your idiotic father! I'll kill you for this! I will—".

Then she paused, listening to the steps outside. Their noise had alerted someone. Maybe another teacher.

Growling, the vampiress jumped back through the window, flying out into the deep night. "Come and get me if you can, Boyo!" she loudly challenged. "I always preferred fighting at outdoors anyway!".

"Sensei!!" Chisame shouted while wrapping a bedsheet around herself. "Don't even think of—".

But Negi had just taken his staff, mounted it, and flown out in hot pursuit of their attacker. "Just watch over the two of them!" he yelled. "I'll be back soon!".

Chisame rushed to the balcony, still calling for him, despite him being nothing but a speck in the nocturnal sky by now. "Wait, you imbecile! She's going to—".

Then she had to bite her tongue. Izumi Ako and her tall friend Ookuchi Akira had just appeared at the room's door, shocked and pale.

They were looking at the fainted Nodoka, the confused Hakase now with Yue in her arms, and the half naked Chisame with stupor and bewilderment.

"What... what has just happened here?" Akira asked. "We heard screams, and then we saw the door on the floor, and now... now...".

Chisame slumped her head down. "Hakase, you are the genius. YOU explain it for me, okay?".

instead of leveling her shortcommings i'd say it would be much more logical to improve her strong suits, since she arguebly have some strength in those, one way or another ... therefore its honestly no question in my book ... Divination with Evocation as prohibted

instead of leveling her shortcommings i'd say it would be much more logical to improve her strong suits, since she arguebly have some strength in those, one way or another ... therefore its honestly no question in my book ... Divination with Evocation as prohibted

Spoiler for objection!:

I am sorry, but I must disagree especially after going to D&Dwiki and reading the spells of each school. Evocation is the closest to magic Nodoka has already shown in the story (I've fallowed it before even joining this Forum), and while I can honestly see the idea of playing to your strengths depending on how closely the template is fallowed I can see no point in specializing in something Nodoka already has such an extensive background in over a fourteen year training binge. There is not really that much challenge in it to devote such a large amount of time to learning, plus in the story she is leading a rebellion against people that were too much for any of her classmates. She is going to have to consider her enemy, her command, and her self in this decision. In adition to all that it states that she can't forfeit Divination no matter what so she can still invole it. The only two I'd prohibit would be Necromancy and Transmutation they are just too out there for Nodoka.

Negi's hands tightened themselves around his staff, as the boy focused his power into radiating even more speed into the wooden implement. The world seemed to zoom around him, to nearly dizzying levels; he was not used to fly so fast, or so low either.

Evangeline seemed to be unafraid of being seen, as she kept on flying rather low, leading him into a chase through the campus, towards the Northern woods. Fortunately, the vampire scares had made sure the Mahora grounds were lonely at those hours.

"Mc Dowell-san!!" Negi shouted at the top of his lungs. "Stop immediately! You could hurt yourself!".

"Ha, ha ha ha ha ha!" the young looking blonde laughed in a tone that fully contradicted her appearance. "Concerned about me, 'Sensei'? You shouldn't be! It's you who won't see the next day's light!".

"Don't say that!" he yelled. "Why are you attacking your classmates?! Even if you suffer from blood thirst, any of the mage staff here should be able to help you!".

"Hah!" she increased her speed, looking back over a shoulder at him, smirking maliciously. "What, are you suggesting to let those weasels to feed me with fake blood while looking for a cure for me? I don't want any cures! I am the Queen of the Night! I don't even need the blood to survive! I only drank from those children to make time until the main course!".

Negi frowned while attempting to catch up to her, dodging the tree trunks as they zig zagged through a park. It was clear she was attempting to make him to crash. But he wouldn't desist! He wouldn't lose her!

He kept on analyzing the situation while chasing her. Evangeline seemed to combine the best advantages of a wizard (spellcasting, knowledge of the mechanics of the arcane) with those of the vampire (superior physical strenght, flight without the need for a staff or broom). Apparently, he had the disadvantage in the versatility department, and yet, he couldn't help but noticing she had not used offense spellworking yet.

"Boyo!!" she called out when they passed near the church. "I suggest you something! If you can catch me, I might tell you something about your father!".

His eyes went wider. "H-how could you know something about him?!".

"Tsk! Tsk! No details until you have done it!" she chided, gaining some altitude. "What do you say? Are you up to the challenge?".

The boy's cute face made a resolute, yet almost laughable on his rounded features, expression. "Do you promise it?".

Eight ghostly shapes made of grayish swirling vapor materialized themselves around him. The humanoid figures all seemed to form a long sharp blade made of hardened air in a hand.

"Bravo!" Evangeline congratulated him. "Finally, some proof you are his son after all! Not bad, but you'll have to do much better to approach him at all!".

"I only need to approach you for now!" he aimed a hand at her. "Age capiant!!" he commanded, and all eight wind spirits zoomed down against her at a breakneck speed.

Evangeline smiled confidently, tossing a few small bottles out of the folds of her long black cape, hitting the spirits with amazing accuracy and blowing them up in midair.

But Negi smiled as well despite that. She had used potions instead of attack spells. That meant her magic level had to be low, which explained why he and Misora had not 'felt' it before. And using a shield at midair took a lot more power than one at ground level...

"Flans Exarmatio!!" he shouted, aiming his right handpalm into her direction. If he took her potions away, she would lose a major part of her effectiveness.

Again, the massive burst of wind flew toward her, this time hitting her with full force despite her attempt to project another blocking shield. It blew the cape and the potion bottles right off her body, along with her black dress, leaving her floating in only a thin white undershirt and panties.

For a moment, despite his uneasiness at seeing another one of his students in a state of undress, he smiled, finding the victory to be much closer...

Right before a blur in a black and white maid oufit swooped down from high above, taking him fully unaware, punching him in the jaw and sending him falling down at a vertiginous speed.

I am sorry, but I must disagree especially after going to D&Dwiki and reading the spells of each school. Evocation is the closest to magic Nodoka has already shown in the story (I've fallowed it before even joining this Forum), and while I can honestly see the idea of playing to your strengths depending on how closely the template is fallowed I can see no point in specializing in something Nodoka already has such an extensive background in over a fourteen year training binge. There is not really that much challenge in it to devote such a large amount of time to learning, plus in the story she is leading a rebellion against people that were too much for any of her classmates. She is going to have to consider her enemy, her command, and her self in this decision. In adition to all that it states that she can't forfeit Divination no matter what so she can still invole it. The only two I'd prohibit would be Necromancy and Transmutation they are just too out there for Nodoka.

Spoiler for counter:

Evocation is practially only damage dealing, and Nodoka is hardly (by canon) an offensive person, but rather one of the intelligence gatherers

Finally, I am back, because of Internet Explorer is acting up and refuses to open. I have therefore decided to switch to Mozilla Firefox, instead.

Quote:

instead of leveling her shortcommings i'd say it would be much more logical to improve her strong suits, since she arguebly have some strength in those, one way or another ... therefore its honestly no question in my book ... Divination with Evocation as prohibted

Well, I've given that some thought myself.

Quote:

Spoiler for objection!:

I am sorry, but I must disagree especially after going to D&Dwiki and reading the spells of each school. Evocation is the closest to magic Nodoka has already shown in the story (I've fallowed it before even joining this Forum), and while I can honestly see the idea of playing to your strengths depending on how closely the template is fallowed I can see no point in specializing in something Nodoka already has such an extensive background in over a fourteen year training binge. There is not really that much challenge in it to devote such a large amount of time to learning, plus in the story she is leading a rebellion against people that were too much for any of her classmates. She is going to have to consider her enemy, her command, and her self in this decision. In adition to all that it states that she can't forfeit Divination no matter what so she can still invole it. The only two I'd prohibit would be Necromancy and Transmutation they are just too out there for Nodoka.

Quote:

Spoiler for counter:

Evocation is practially only damage dealing, and Nodoka is hardly (by canon) an offensive person, but rather one of the intelligence gatherers

Spoiler for Answer:

-Well, Evocation is not available now, due to plot reasons. Sian is right in that it is the offensive category of spells for Arcanists in D&D and the reason why it's barred, is because she doesn't need to learn it. I have planned ahead in that she would learn more and more of her own homeworld's Western magic, so Evocation is in the dump.

-Secondly, Necromancy and Transmutation being barred, I've been told, is actually one of the worst ways of doing a wizard. Transmutation is good for an overall party and she's the only one capable of using magic. It increases strength, speed, stuff like that for the group, allowing them to be more efficient. Necromancy, does have very few spells that are truly evil. Most of it involves just summoning the dead or draining the enemy of energy and such. Okay, that sounds evil, but it isn't. The only reason it's automatically classed "Evil" is because it's a perversion in the eyes of people who believe that the dead shall stay dead. That's how I view it. It too is barred for plot reasons.

Then again, if Divination is picked, then Evocation alone is barred. I've set up a poll on my profile regarding the choice, but Evocation is not available, whatsoever.

Finally, as to the massive time span, she needs it. Fashtar isn't playing this by chance and all, as he's the one who realized the whole scenario for her. Not to mention that this kind of magic is completely different then what Nodoka is used to. She's up against three opponents who's had years of experience and she's got... about only seven months. That makes her a novice in their eyes.

Cocone had gone to bed more than two hours ago. From her seat next to the window, Misora could see her sleeping quietly on her bed, face down, never moving or rolling around at all.

But she, on the other hand, couldn't do the same thing, which was unusual since she was the laziest of the duo by far. She simply felt unrestful and fidgety, bothered by something she couldn't quite put her finger onto. It wasn't the usual fear she had felt since being attacked. It was something else, similar to some degree, but that felt more like some sort of sense of urgency.

She, feeling urgency over doing anything? The girl was really starting to think she could be sick.

So she had taken a seat next to the window, hoping the cool night breeze could soothe her down while she played her Game Boy, biting her lower lip while shooting spaceship after spaceship down. She had placed wards all around the window, as well, so the vampire's return, at last, after so many nights of bad dreams, was the last thing in her mind at that exact moment.

Then Misora head the icy laughter, and she looked up at the sky.

And her eyes, once more, transformed into pitch black spheres.

It was like a feverish dream suddenly coming to life. Up there, flying over the trees, bathed by the faint light of the full moon, a figure with long golden hair laughed and laughed while flying wrapped into a gigantic black cape, fleeing a small boy riding a flying staff. Horrified, the girl backed away from the window violently, yet was unable to take her eyes away from the scene.

The boy, who she was sure had to be Negi-sensei, had just summoned eight attack spirits and sicced them on his target. Misora stared, fascinated, at that display of power, feeling her fear mixing up with some strange new admiration. He actually was an impressive wizard! Now she wanted that Pactio even more; if he could beat the Dark Evangel all by himself...

But then, as if on cue, her fondest hopes were shattered as swiftly as the pursuer summonings the escaping blonde had somehow just neutralized. Sensei was not beaten yet, however, no; he had just done some crazy shit that had blown the vampire's clothes off! Wow, there were stripping spells too? Well, it was easy to guess why Sister Shakti had never spoken about them at the church.

Misora still was unsure of how the hell could you beat a vampire by stripping her, but before such a relevant and timeless question could be answered, something that looked like a blur of black and white with green hair zoomed down from above hitting Sensei squarely on the kisser (or so it seemed), and sending him barreling down towards the ground, much to Misora's ever growing terror.

She only could see him falling through a tree's top, before she couldn't see anything else. Both because the angle and the distance didn't allow for it, and because she just couldn't keep on watching. Scared out of her wits, the young female pulled the curtains close and slipped under her bed's covers, trembling like a terrified deer.

She closed her eyes tightly, trying her best to sleep and forget, but she felt herself antsier than ever. Reopening her eyes, she warily looked over at Cocone's prone and still blissfully sleeping form.

"Nothing I can do anyway" Kasuga reassured herself under her breath.

Maybe he would be okay in any case. Yeah. If he was a strong sorcerer like his father, he could pull it off. Yes, that was it. Worrying about it was silly.

Misora remained still and silent, trying to listen. She couldn't hear anything else.

Shouldn't a mage beating a vampire up cause a few magical explosions?

On the other hand, a vampire sucking a mage's blood should be silent and discreet, like Yue sipping a carton of juice at the back of the class.

"No, that's ridiculous to think" she told herself.

Eh, even if she sucked him off, it wasn't like it'd kill him, right? She had survived something similar herself with no lasting effects.

Then again, if the vampire was after revenge over that Thousand Master affair...

You should have told him, she scolded herself. It's your fault!.

No, wait, it's not my fault at all! I didn't tell him to go out and play Buffy!.

But... I didn't try to convince him to stop it, either... she remembered, sulking down.

The girl looked at her right hand, reminiscing how good it had felt when he grabbed it.

What is this annoying thing I'm feeling? Guilt...?.

Gulping, she tiptoed to the window and took a brief peek through the curtains. The campus looked fully lonely and empty, but she knew they should be somewhere between the trees.

Misora sighed, sitting down at the floor. She shook her head, grabbing her scalp with both hands. She never had been so scared in her whole life. But exactly scared of what?

The Vampire Witch, the Damsel of Blood, was a huge part and parcel of that fear, no doubt, but what was that other panic she was feeling as well?

Misora whimpered as loud as she could without waking her child friend up. She couldn't put Negi-kun's smile out of her head, and then there was his courage, his kindness to the ghost girl, his determination. He was everything she couldn't be; brave and reliable, trustworthy and sincere. And now he would be killed, no doubt, his small dry dead body to be found early tomorrow, drained and cold. He would die alone and away from his house and family while she cowered under her covers.

"I can't do anything.." she whispered to herself.

Her eyes slowly traveled over to her closet. Trembling and breathing heavily, she stood back up and opened it, facing the hanging habits and the reserve crucifixes inside, the stashed spell books and the bottles of holy water.

Misora made a suffering face.

"I must be completely insane..." she whined. "A suicidal idiot, that's what I am...".

Negi yowled in pain as he fell through a sakura tree's foliage, finally managing to break his fall with one of the thicker lower branches. Still stunned by the impact, he noticed he had dropped his staff, looking down quickly to see it at the tree's roots.

He extended a hand towards it, and shouted "Mea Virga!". Instantly, the staff flew up to his outstretched hand, which gripped it tightly. Then he climbed to the upper branches, sticking his head out of the treetop and looking up at the sky, hoping to find his opponents again. But they were nowhere in sight.

Instead, Evangeline's amused voice came from below now.

"Are you looking for us, Sensei?".

Negi turned his gaze down to see Evangeline standing at the middle of a nearby small road, her arms crossed. Behind her, a French maid outfit, Karakuri Chachamaru stood expresionless and silent.

"That has been enough!" Negi shouted while jumping down to face them. "If you keep this up, I... I'll have to report you to the Dean!".

"Oh dear. I'm terrified" the small blonde chuckled, devilishly.

"Karakuri-san!" Negi called out at the robot. "Why are you helping her to do these awful things? Hakase-san won't be happy at all!".

"WHAT??!" Negi recoiled. "B-But she possibly can't be your partner! I mean, she is a— a—".

"Oh, we haven't Pactioed through the conventional means, if that's what you mean" Evangeline dismissed his question with a handwave. "Still, she is linked to me as my servant. And working together, a pup with no partner like you will never be able to defeat us".

Before he could finish the spell, Chachamaru blinked out of sight, then reappeared right before him in a fraction of a second and casually grabbed him by the cheeks, stretching them painfully.

"UWAAAA!!" Negi bawled as soon as she released him. "That was mean! Undec—".

Always with the same neutral face, Chachamaru pinched his nose and twisted it around. "KYAAAAAA!!!" he yelled.

"Heh, heh heh! Surprised, Sensei?" Evangeline taunted him. "You shouldn't be! A genius like you should be aware a Ministra lives to protect her Magistra while she can't defend herself. We are basically helpless while casting a spell, so the Partners must act as a physical shield, or a counterattack weapon. That's why a youngling without any Pactio to his belt, like you, will never be a challenge for us. Chachamaru!" she commanded. "I grow tired of this! Hold him so I can suck him dry!".

"Yes, Master" with uncanny speed, the robotic girl caught the boy unaware, grabbing him into an unescapable chokehold against her hard as steel body. "Please forgive me, Sensei" she softly said. "Nothing personal at all".

"Oh, it is for me" Evangeline smirked as she walked to them, swaying her hips seductively. "I only wish your stupid father could be here to see this! Oh, that's true; I promised you to tell you about him, didn't I? Then listen well, because I never break a promise. For the last few weeks, since I learned you were coming here, I have been attacking those mindless students to gather strenght for this moment. Many of the attacks went unreported; in some cases, the victims themselves thought they had just had a bad dream. And do you know why did I need to regain my strenght?".

"Because your beloved father sentenced me to years and years of suffering at these cursed grounds!" Evangeline yelled, her mask of playfulness falling off to reveal raw anger and bitterness. "That miserable oaf toyed around with me, and then sealed my powers away! I have spent fifteen hellish years trapped at this pigpen, surrounded by nothing but imbeciles! Me, who once was the most feared scourge of four continents! If I could, I'd eradicate your whole bloodline from this world!".

Negi went pale, and not only because the robot's hold was interrupting his normal blood flow. "But... I'm sure he'd have his reasons...".

Negi trembled under her glare. "D-Don't say that... I'm sure we can find a way to—".

"I already have chosen a way of my liking, thanks" Evangeline licked her lips, smiling again. "To break the Thousand Master's curse binding me here, I'd normally need to drink his blood, but as his son, yours will suffice, as well. And I'll make sure to enjoy every last drop of it...".

"SOMEONE HELP ME!!" Negi screamed as Chachamaru lowered him enough for him to be at Evangeline's reach. The vampire opened her mouth fully, her long fangs glinting under the moonlight.

"I'm sorry. Not too much, but..." she said as she closed in to his neck, "I'll try to make this quick, if it's any consolation to you".

Then, as if acting on cue, a female voice interrupted the scene, calling out from the other side of the path.

"STOP YOURSELVES RIGHT THERE, VILLAINS!".

The vampire grumbled, turning her around around to look at the source of the sound. "Now what...?".

A young female in a nun's habit stood at a prudent distance, posing heroically, her long skirt flapping around in the breeze. A mask covering the lower half of her face below the veil, only allowing for her eyes to be seen.

"I— I have come to punish all evildoers wh-who prey on innocent children!!" the stranger announced, as if reading lines from a cue card, stiffly and fighting her own fear down. "I-I'm the protector Angel of Mahora! Y-You can call me, um... The Mysterious Sister!!".

Negi's eyes widened with reborn hope. "Ahhhh!!" he was amazed. Who could be that brave and beautiful heroine who had just showed up to save him?

"Ah. Kasuga Misora" Evangeline deadpaned.

The Mysterious Sister jumped up in alarm. "K-K-Kasuga who?! You must be muh-mistaken, b-buh-bloodsucking fiend! I have no name but the one I just announced, and I don't know that pretty and cute young nun you just have mentioned! At all!".

Evangeline tilted her head aside. "Maybe I took too much blood from you? I didn't want to cause you any brain damage".

Negi gave the Sister a shocked stare. "Is that really you, Kasuga-san...?".

"Hmph. I suppose you are right" the short blonde conceded. "Very well, since I'm in a good mood over my victory, I will grant your wish, Chachamaru. You, girl! Heed your master's voice! Since I bit you, you are my slave! And so, I command you to head back to your hole and forget this ever happened!".

It took every bit of willpower the Mysterious Sister had to reject the offer, but shakily, she still shook her head, then briefly bared her neck. The bite marks were fully gone by then.

"Sister Shakti purified them!" she said. "I— I'm never going to be under your thrall!".

"Oh, ho!" Evangeline seemed entertained by the notion. "So that poor woman has more power than I thought. Curioser and curioser. Still, what do you hope to do against me? I have overpowered you like a baby before, and that's when I was alone. Are you that much of a masochist? Hmmmm?".

The Mysterious Sister gasped aloud, but managed to retain enough will to stand her ground and train a cross on Evangeline's direction. "S-S-Step back, vile spawn of the night! I-In the name of the Lord, I b-banish you away!".

The blonde gave the crucifix a stare, then laughed again. "Oh, please! Even if I were a demon, your weak faith wouldn't be enough to harm me!".

The masked girl trembled, starting to charge the cross with her own magic power. "That... That isn't the only trump card I had...".

With the speed of a track and field star, the Mysterious Sister ran to Negi's side, grabbing him by a hand and pulling him away with herself, managing to free him from the distracted gynoid's arms. "Run, Sensei! Run with me as fast as you can!" she urged.

"Y-Y-Yes!" he nodded, recalling his staff, then jumping onto it, pulling her up with him. "Wait, we'll go faster in this!".

"Okay!" she swallowed hard, hugging him as they zoomed away back toward Chisame's dorm.

hmm ... anyone have an idea about what i should jump for a good Fanfic exploring Yue/Nodoka ... without Negi as a (dominating or even active) third wheel? ... from my tries to find some i've failed and honestly my creativity sucks to hard at stuff like that to dare going down on writing one myself

Pairing Negi up with someone else first is a must. Then have the girls... finding solace... on each other. That would be my suggestion.

Anyway, here's more of my stuff. I wish you good luck with yours.

Spoiler for Eva/Chacha/Miso/Chisa/Sato/Negi?!?:

Chisame was simply hoping it wouldn't become a recurring event.

Once more, now that she was fully clothed again, she was hugging the piloting Hakase's thin waist as the mad genius piloted the speedster mini vehicle through the Mahora grounds, searching for their pint sized teacher. Honestly, that boy was more problems than he was worth.

"Do you think Izumi and Ookuchi really bought your story?" she finally mused, with a grunt that managed to sound unconcerned.

"They allowed us to go out without calling on anyone else, didn't they?" Satomi asked while keeping her eyes on her radar... more than on the path ahead, much to her roommate's discomfort.

"That's what they promised, anyway" Chisame snorted. "For all we know, they are calling on the Dean right now".

"They are true to their word" Hakase commented, rather distantly.

"Okay" Chisame kept on looking around. "But how do you plan to find him, anyway? All we saw is the general direction they flew into, but what if they took a detour to the West or South? Even assuming they kept the same direction, that still leaves too much ground to cover...".

"Chisame" Satomi spoke very seriously. "Wherever Chachamaru is now, Sensei and Evangeline-san will be there as well".

"And how do you figure that?".

"I'm not fully sure, but all signs point to it. Evangeline-san fled, meaning she couldn't kept on fighting there by herself. And so far, all her victims were harmless students; she never went after anyone powerful like Ku Fei-san or Chao, or any of the magic-versed teachers. So she could need Chachamaru's help to subdue Negi-sensei" Satomi analyzed the matter with evident cold blood.

"Wait" Chisame blinked. "How many teachers do know about magic?".

Hakase shrugged. "I haven't been able to run a complete research on the subject, but Chao has told me several of them do".

"Figures" the hacker made a disgusted face.

"I have received a positive signal" Satomi perked up visibly. "Chachamaru is at a distance of seven hundred meters, near the North limits of the school grounds".

"Uh-oh" Chisame cringed.

"And getting close at a very steady and fast pace" Satomi completed the analysis.

"TURN THIS THING AROUND AND GO BACK HOME THEN!" Chisame pleaded.

"Not without my intellectual and material property!" the shorter girl stubbornly shouted. "Oh, and Sensei too, I guess. Oh, and speaking of him—".

"What?".

"I think that might be him, currently heading in a flying fashion towards us" Hakase adjusted her goggles, looking ahead while reducing the vehicle's speed. "I only hope he slows down before we enter a straight collision course".

"INSTEAD OF HOPING FOR IT, JUST GET OUT OF THE WAY YOURSELF!" Hasegawa despaired.

Then she also saw Negi, flying their way into his staff, carrying... a masked nun?... with himself. "Sensei...?".

"Hasegawa-san! Hakase-san!" the boy called out while screeching to a halt in midair, the nun shrieking as she held to him for her dear life. "Wh-What are you two doing here?!".

"Well, excuse us! We were just trying to save your life!" Chisame barked. "I know, that makes us almost as dumb and suicidal as you, but never mind that! Say", she fixed her glare on the nun, "is that you, Kasuga?".

"I have no idea of who is that Kasuga Misora you mention!" the girl in the habit averted her gaze. "I am only known as The Mysterious Sister!".

"Yes. It's indeed her" Satomi concluded.

Chisame jumped off the vehicle, grabbing Negi's neck forcefully and checking it up carefully. "Okay, where are the bite marks? We'll have to get you vaccinated or something, right?".

"Right... HERE!!!" Evangeline howled madly, as she and Chachamaru descended in their midst, the robot's foot jets making her to land down safely. "You miserable rats! Insolent vermin! You have laughed more than enough at me! Now you'll experience nothing but most abject FEAR—!!".

"TH-THANK YOU FOR WORRYING THAT MUCH ABOUT THE REST OF US!" Chisame quickly backed away, torn between indignation and panic.

Negi stepped between the three human girls and his two pursuers. "Mc Dowell-san!" he called. "Please let them go! Your revenge doesn't involve them! You only want me, don't you? Drink all of my blood if you must, but don't hurt any of them!".

"It's too late for that, Boyo" Evangeline growled, then pointed a hand at Chisame and another one at the Mysterious Sister. "She bashed my gorgeous face with a book! And she injured my evocative and dreamy eyes! No way I'm allowing those offenses to go unpunished!".

"Evangeline-san" Hakase calmly said while stepping down the speedster. "I'm taking Chachamaru away from you. I never agreed to lend her to you for the purposes of stalking and hunting human beings. Why, she could get critically damaged doing that!".

"YOU SHOULD WORRY LESS ABOUT HER, AND MORE ABOUT THE HUMAN BEINGS!" the Mysterious Sister yelled grievously.

"Hm?" Evangeline humphed. "Since when do you have any sort of moral qualms about the use of your creations, Hakase Satomi? I thought you had sold your soul to science. If Chachamaru is broken, you just find a way to repair her. If human scum is harmed instead, wasn't that just a collateral sacrifice for your cause?" she mocked bitterly.

Satomi looked straight at her eyes. "Science is ultimately all about the betterment of mankind. Not about its subjugation under the heel of magic".

"You should know better than to say that before a mage" the vampiress snarled. "I liked you better when you made no questions. Chachamaru! After I'm done with the boy, I'll feast on her! She'll be more useful as a slave with no will! So grab her for me!".

The robot paused for a moment, almost hesitating, before quietly saying, "Yes, Master".

Negi was about to shield the scientist with his own body, just as Chisame and the Sister, in their panic, turned to each other to share a terrified hug. But then, Hakase, without faltering, simply opened her mouth and spoke again.

"The hell?!?" Evangeline jerked up violently, wiping her bloody nose off with the back of a hand. "Et tu, Brutus?! I'll never forgive this vile—".

Chachamaru just kicked her up in the jaw.

Falling back on her butt, Evangeline's eyes watered up. "You dastardly traitor! How could you—! I'll kill you all for this!".

"Sorry, Master" Chachamaru grabbed her by the hair, pulling her up and making her to yowl. "You shouldn't have said that. The more of a threat you become, the more defense force I'll need to use".

"You'll need much more than that, you—!!" Evangeline tried to raise a shield, but before she could do it, Chachamaru used her speed edge to slam her facefirst against a tree.

"I regret this, Master. Honestly, I do" the gynoid said while stoically slamming her a few more times. "Please believe me, I'm attempting to use the minimal force needed to control you down".

"You... You coulda fooled me..." Evangeline groggily gurgled.

"Yeah, that's it!" the Mysterious Sister pumped a fist up. "No mercy! No holds barred! Show her a thing or two!".

"Are you sure you are a real nun?!" Chisame told her, then turning to Hakase. "Hey, you! Why don't you tell her to stop? I think it's already been enough!".

"She's right, Hakase-san!" Negi said, sounding rather outraged over the turn of events. "I disapprove of any fighting between my students! Just stop this now!".

Satomi gave him a blank glare. "But, Sensei... She tried to—".

"NOW!" he ordered.

Hakase sighed. "As you wish. Chachamaru! Stop the proceeding! Restart only in case the target takes further offensive actions!" she clapped her hands only once.

"Yes, Hakase-san" Chachamaru almost sounded grateful as she allowed Evangeline to fall down to her knees, sobbing violently.

Even Chisame couldn't help but feeling some pity for her then. Like an angry and spoiled, yet broken and infinitely sad child, the petite blonde rubbed her tearful eyes. But as soon as Negi attempted to reach for her, she slapped his hand away.

"I hate you all, with all my soul!" she hissed. "Rest assured, the next time I see you, none of you will escape alive!".

"Please, Mc Dowell-san..." he begged. "There's no need to be enemies...! I'm sure we can find a solution for your curse if we—!".

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!!" the vampiress roared. "No more lies! You're just like him! I hate you more than anyone else!".

She flew up rubbing her swollen face, shooting a hateful glare to all of them.

"I'll claim my servant back, and all of you along with her!" she threatened. "You have just angered the most dangerous enemy of all! Fear! From now on, do nothing but fearing the day of my bleakest revenge—!!".

"—tree" the gynoid finished as her master fell back down to the ground, with a large bump on her head.

"Gyah!" Negi rushed to her side. "Are you okay, Mc Do—".

"I SAID AWAY!!" Evangeline slapped him away, then flew off as quick as she could. "I'll see you dead for this!!".

"Master..." Chachamaru whispered.

"You're much better off without her" Hakase huffed. "Come with me. From now on, you will be under my direct care and supervision. That will optimize our interaction and my data collecting, while preventing you from being dismantled by overzealous authorities".

Another starburst of pain in her chest made her writhe, thrashing against the ropes around her wrists. No matter how hard Setsuna jerked, the bonds held.

*So, will you say it?*

“Fuck off!”

A laugh. *Why should I, when I’ve got you here?*

That sent chills down Setsuna’s skin before a wide swathe of agony tore down Setsuna’s ribs, the scrape of metal on bone sending a nauseating tremor through her body. She ground her teeth together, her lips already bleeding, hearing a scream roll in her throat.

*Oh, I think I almost have you now, senpai…* Mad giggling came by her ear, and Setsuna gave a half-whimper when she felt soft fingers run up the outside of her thigh, not quite sensually but threatening to be. She thrashed harder.

She had to bear this…she couldn’t let Tsukuyomi beat her.

More pain hammered in her head, but Setsuna couldn’t feel where it came from. She wasn’t seeing her own bleeding, stripped body…she was spiralling deeper into her head, pulling to mind the most beautiful things she could think of.

Setsuna saw her most important person.

All pain faded from her awareness when a soft pair of lips touched hers.

“Pactio!” She dimly heard/remembered Chamo cry out, but none of that mattered.

Konoka kissed her, growing more and more passionate, as Setsuna felt a thrill of excitement twirl around her insides as she opened her mouth, letting Konoka’s tongue in—

Dimly, Setsuna heard Tsukuyomi howl in fury, somewhere far, far away.

Setsuna laughed inside her head, still relishing the memory of Konoka’s hot mouth as both of them poured all their pent-up ardour into the kiss.

**O**

May 24, 2010Kyoto, Konoe-Wallward House

Mana

BLAM!

Setsuna startled a little, Yuunagi wavering in one of her strike repetitions. Mana ejected her empty shell casing, waiting to see what Setsuna would do once she realized that she had accidentally wandered into Mana’s shooting range. They were the only two present at the small practice yard, the hour too early for even the more diligent Wallward guards to be up and about.

Setsuna didn’t even blink as the bullet whizzed by her cheek and slammed next to the bullethole already in the target.

Chik-cha-chik—BLAM!

TNK! Metal shrieked as Setsuna deflected the rifle round with her sword, leaping to the side and snapping her blade up into an attack position.

“What was that?” She asked dourly, raising an eyebrow.

Mana shrugged, chambering another round. “You’re in my way.”

“Yeah right—”
BLAM!

TNK! Setsuna stumbled, having caught that shot near Yuunagi’s tip instead of closer to the handle, the force throwing her balance off. Chik-cha-chik. Mana already had her gun up to her shoulder again, pointed at Setsuna’s chest. A head-shot wouldn’t be worth the risk, as even in the state she was in Setsuna would be too fast for an accurate head-shot anyways.

“Mana!”

“Sloppy.”

Setsuna froze, her confused annoyance transforming into anger. Finally, Mana thought, keeping her pleasure concealed under her mercenary mask. Her partner had been far too detached in the last weeks.

“What are you talking about?” Silver flashed as Setsuna brought Yuunagi up into a defensive stance. Red eyes narrowed, eyeing Mana with the attentiveness of a hawk about to strike. “I’m faster than I’ve ever been before.”

“You’re slacking.” Mana fired again in succession, taking the time when Setsuna flipped and dodged around the bullets to load a new magazine.

Setsuna twisted past the last shot, her body flowing like a wild animal, each movement full of power and beauty. She rolled back into her defensive stance, although Mana could see her leading foot sliding sideways to slowly shift into a fighting pose. Protesting, Setsuna said, “I could never have done that before!”

“I can See it, you know,” Mana retorted. “That demon side that you’re so worried about, yet you’re welcoming it in every day. At the level you’re at now, you should be far better than this. But you’re not. You’re terrible.”

Her instincts reacted before her mind did, which was a good thing. High tensile metal whined as Setsuna dodged and deflected her bullets, having gained five metres of ground in a lightning-quick dash but was forcibly halted by Mana’s cover fire.

The gunslinger slammed another magazine in place. “You should be in my face by now. Instead, you’re barely holding your own.”

“What are you getting at?” Setsuna snarled, her arms shaking although her stance stayed firm. A rough tone in her voice betrayed her frustration, although her expression still looked ice calm.

“If you took better care of yourself, then maybe you wouldn’t be so sloppy,” Mana said. Oh, she would have to start being careful…this wasn’t going to work if Setsuna managed to prove her wrong. She still had two loaded handguns on her belt, if Setsuna got close enough to force Mana to drop her rifle. “When was the last time you ate a full meal, Setsuna? Or when you slept for more than an hour at a time?” She pushed on, not giving Setsuna a change to answer. “You’re coasting along on your demonic strength, letting it fill in for you where you’ve gotten weak!”

Setsuna lunged forward again, her sword flashing as she knocked aside bullets in her charge. Still, Mana’s second-last rifle round contacted, tearing along the outside of Setsuna’s thigh and sending the half-demon slamming into the ground, braced on her knees and out-flung hands, panting.

“I’m getting the job done!” hissed Setsuna, her face dark and her shoulders shaking as if she was fighting the urge to call forth her demon blood and take to the skies.

“And for your precious Ojou-sama, are you really settling for just getting the job done?” Mana asked scornfully. An injury like that wouldn’t permanently damage Setsuna, not with her heightened demonic healing even if she decided not to let Konoka heal her. It shouldn’t even affect her fighting. Setsuna must have no force of mind left to hold back distractions like pain.

Had Setsuna become so bad so quickly, and Mana hadn’t even noticed?

She pumped out her last cartridge and replaced the magazine again, not wanting to start a new round of attacks without a full load. “So, Setsuna? Are you just going to let yourself coast through life, wasting your demonic strength on simply keeping that body of yours running?”

Demon eyes glared back at her. Setsuna breathed heavily, one hand white-knuckled around Yuunagi’s hilt, and the other clamped over the slowly oozing gouge on her wounded leg.

“…I won’t use the demon to be my strength,” Setsuna said.

“Oh?” Mana challenged. “Then use your Pactio. That’s why you did it, right? To become stronger?”

Setsuna froze.

“Do it,” whispered Mana. She knew that Setsuna wouldn’t, but she had to try. Normally she wouldn’t have cared so much but by now, Setsuna was her friend. And sometimes friends had to say the things that weren’t welcome, but that needed to be heard.

Panting, Setsuna rose, wiping her bloody hand on her white uwagi shirt. In an odd way, it was nice for Mana to see that Setsuna was still holding firmly onto her traditional work-out clothing, only changing into a Western style suit and shirt when they were on duty. It wouldn’t do for the Wallwards to forget that they are now members of the old Konoe clan, and that while the knowledge may go both ways, the prestige clearly did not. Not that Mana cared to a great extent, but it still rubbed her the wrong way when she saw how the Wallwards always tried to strengthen their hold on Konoka.

They were all old friends, after all.

Setsuna turned, ignoring Mana and the blood dripping down her leg and dotting the packed dirt. The swordswoman walked back towards the house, her head down, Yuunagi’s tip low to the ground.

Mana didn’t shoot. She wasn’t sure if Setsuna would actually try to stop her bullets this time.

**O**

Somewhen in November, 2007

*You can keep pretending, but in the end you know the truth.*

Setsuna shivered, hearing her own voice speaking to her. Keep your eyes closed…she knew that if she opened them, she would see red eyes gleaming back at her. Red eyes and white hair…

*I am in your blood—you can keep denying me, but when your blood runs hot in bloodlust…* Silken feathers brushed over Setsuna’s back, making her shiver and arch, feeling the tingle in her back as her own wings strained to burst out of flushed skin. *You need me, to protect our Ojou-sama.*

“Konoka?” Setsuna muttered, sweating.

*I am your freedom.*

“No you’re not…Konoka’s my freedom!”

It’s a trick—that isn’t you. It’s Tsukuyomi!

*I’m the strength you keep denying.*

Ignore her! Setsuna let herself fall into her spiralling memories, drawing her strongest defence around herself. Chestnut hair shimmered in the light as Konoka spun around, smiling at her with a shy, warm glow in her eyes.

“Hehe…how do I look, Set-chan?”

Beautiful.

Cinema village, and Konoka looked like a princess, bright and gorgeous. Setsuna’s arm was constantly warm with the sensation of Konoka’s hands on her bicep as her Ojou-sama pressed up close to her, looking at her with happy adoration.

*Do you think that once she knows about me, that she’ll give you that same smile? You know better than that!*

Setsuna had scooped Konoka out of Chigusa’s arms, slicing through the two summons as she flew past.

“Huh? Oh, uh…you mean these?” Setsuna stammered, feeling the shame rushing in again with each beat of her white wings.

“What…what are…”

“…Are you disgusted?” Setsuna asked in a small voice, her hands trembling although she still held Konoka securely against her chest.

Konoka gave a vehement shake of her head, blurting out a bit too hastily, “They’re beautiful!” She quickly averted her gaze, “Um…You look like an angel!”

Inside Setsuna’s head, her voice of truth whispered.

She’s lying.

**O**

Asuna

Asuna hated all the fussy paperwork she had to do.

Oh, Konoka was nice and took care of most of her work herself, but her friend just didn’t have the time anymore to shuffle around her appointments and co-ordinate with other people inbetween her research and her duties as the Konoe heir and as the lady of the Konoe-Wallward house. So Asuna was stuck with the boring-er tasks of arranging with Ethan Moor who was going to tell the limo driver the departure times and when their respective friends were available to go out as a couple for social events. Stuff that Konoka and Kyo couldn’t be bothered with.

“Wednesday is the only lunch hour Kyo has available,” Ethan said firmly, scrolling through Kyo’s calendar. “You’ll have to rearrange to open up that time for Lady Konoka, because nothing else will work.”

“I told you already,” Asuna growled, fighting to keep her politeness along with her patience, “that Wednesday doesn’t work for the Mayor. He’s coming all the way up here to thank Konoka and Kyo for their achievement with the Koyane Wards, but he can only have lunch or dinner on Tuesday.”

“Hmm.” Ethan clicked open a few more events, scratching the hint of stubble on his chin. When Asuna had been fourteen, she might have found him attractive, as even though he was Kyo’s age Ethan gave off the semblance of being older in a rugged kind of way. Of course, that impression got ruined whenever he opened his mouth… “Tuesday dinner might work; I can reschedule the overseas conference call and change his work supervision time to Wednesday.” He started dialing. “I’ll give him a call.”

Asuna rolled her eyes, scribbling in Konoka’s new appointment in her pocket calendar. If it wasn’t for all the hassle involved, Asuna would have volunteered to take the steward job in the household, just to spare Konoka the many calls Ethan would make before deciding on anything.

“What?” Ethan demanded, unfortunately catching sight of her exasperated expression, his phone against his ear. “Something you want to say?”

“Yeah,” Asuna gritted her teeth, feeling her temper flare. Damn, she missed Ayaka and how she could always blow off some steam in a friendly fight with their old class president. “Are the calls really necessary? Just make the decision yourself—why else would Kyo-san trust you with his schedule?”

“Changes in Kyo’s schedule affect more people than just himself, you know,” he snapped. “I can’t just shift things without his permission.”

“Didn’t he already give you permission when he gave you the responsibility?” Asuna sighed. Remember, Konoka told you to be nice. “Look, you might be disruptive to Kyo-san and Konoka when you keep confirming all your decisions with them—they both trust you to make the right choices. So can we cut out the middle-step all the time?”

“Even though he’s my friend, I’m still his employee,” Ethan said. “Final decisions are for the bosses to make, not me.”

Asuna frowned, tapping her pen against the table. “Is that really how he thinks of you?”

The young man blinked, startled at the question. To Asuna’s surprise, he actually gave it some thought instead of just spouting off an asshole-ish answer. “You know, I really don’t know,” admitted Ethan finally, ending his call before it connected and setting the phone down. “It’s his right. He’s from a noble family, and I’m just a paid hand who happens to be his friend.”

“So he does just think of you and Hazan as just servants?” Asuna asked, not even trying to hide how appalled she was.

“He’s not like that!” Ethan defended Kyo loyally. “He treats us like friends when we’re in private. We just can’t act that way in public, you know. It’s not proper, like how you act with Lady Konoka.”

“I’ll act however I want!” Asuna retorted. “Konoka’s my friend, not my boss. I do things for her because I want to, not because I’m getting paid.”

“But you are getting paid,” Ethan pointed out acerbically.

Asuna grimaced—damn, that was true. “But we don’t believe in all that courtesy stuff between us. Konoka would hate it if I treated her like some Ojou-sama. And besides, she wouldn’t treat anyone else in this household like a servant either.”

“She should. It’ll only make her look lowly if she’s so familiar like that.”

“Some people don’t care about status, as amazing as it might seem to you.”

“She can afford to,” Ethan said. He sighed and drank from his coffee mug, dropping it back on the table with a thud. “Kyo doesn’t have that luxury, okay? He doesn’t get to coast along through life like the lady does. So it’s not his fault!”

“I didn’t think of that,” Asuna admitted. Konoka had always made light of her family situation, it hadn’t been until the Kyoto trip that Asuna and the rest of their classmates had realized just how rich and powerful Konoka’s family was. But a nouveau-riche family like the Wallwards would likely be more insecure with their status. “Konoka…well, she doesn’t care. She never did.”

“Well, Kyo does,” Ethan scowled, but for once he didn’t seem to be directing that glower at Asuna. “The Wallwards worked hard for their status. It costs a lot to maintain it. Even if it’s not easy, he still has to do it.”

“Seems dumb to me,” Asuna said. “The only people I’ve ever met who flaunted their status were creeps who were trying really hard to hide just how lame they were. The people who actually had the right stuff are always humble about it.”

So that’s a yes, in guy-speech. “Well…why do you still do it then? Still be his steward, putting yourself in a position that you don’t really want to be in?”

Ethan pocketed his Blackberry and thought for a bit. Then he shrugged. “I’m his friend, so if he needs the favour, I’ll do it for him.”

Figures that Asuna wasn’t really going to get a good second opinion on the matter. Guys and girls felt differently about this stuff—and anyways, the case Asuna was thinking of had other complications worked in as well. “Cool. Thanks.”

“What?” Asuna asked again, already rapidly trying to think of the best way to answer a bunch of potential loaded questions…

“Is she like…” Ethan coughed. “Gay?”

Asuna nearly choked in surprise. Not exactly the question she had been expecting, and while thankfully it wasn’t as touchy of a subject to answer it still wasn’t exactly something Asuna wanted to address. Experience taught her to dodge those kinds of questions. “Why do you care?” She asked evasively.

Now it was Ethan’s turn to dodge the question. Asuna could tell in the way his eyes flicked away and in the tensing of his shoulders. Idly, he answered with a wry grin, “Just curious, since, well, you might have noticed that Hazan sorta likes her and all. Just looking out for a friend.”

Yeah right, I’m soooo sure that was what you were getting after. “Hazan-san seems like a big girl…I’m sure she can handle things herself, if she wanted to try things out.” Asuna thanked Mana for her dry commentary on Setsuna’s behaviour towards Konoka in high school (of course, Mana had grossly overestimated Setsuna’s capabilities, but no use dwelling on that now). It gave her a perfect comeback.

“Yeah, I bet she can,” Ethan agreed, smoothing out his shirt. “Anyways, I’ll confirm the schedule with you later tonight. I’ll book the restaurant too, why don’t you deal with the guard stuff?”

“Sure,” Asuna said, nodding and waving him off.

Was Setsuna gay?

Sheesh…Asuna had never seen anyone gayer for another person than Setsuna and Konoka together.

No, she had to be fair. That’s where it hurt so much to have to be a witness to the current tangled mess.

Asuna had never seen two people who loved each other more than Setsuna and Konoka together…even when they couldn’t be together.

**O**

Finally, Setsuna thought, some privacy. She liked being with the rest of their classmates—their friends—but sometimes she just wanted to spend some quiet time with Kono-chan alone.

Since Konoka hadn’t let go of her ever since they had ducked off for a walk in the woods together, it seemed that Konoka had the same sentiment.

“It’s such a nice day for a picnic, don’t you think, Set-chan?” Konoka sighed happily, running her hand down Setsuna’s arm until they were holding hands.

Setsuna had claimed the weight of their picnic basket before they had even stepped outside the building, even though it kept her sword arm hindered (since there was no way she was going to forgo holding Kono-chan’s hand!). “I’m sorry Kono-chan, I didn’t even think to help you prepare the food…”

“Aw, that’s alright. I like cooking for you.” Konoka beamed and snuggled up to Setsuna’s side, trusting her guardian to keep them from tripping each other. They found a little clearing and spread out their groundsheet, laying out their lunch in the sweet meadow grass.

Konoka started it first, by insisting on feeding Setsuna by hand. And it must have been something in the hazy summer day, because Setsuna found herself getting more and more flustered whenever Konoka’s fingers brushed her lips, and not flustered in a bad way.

“Your cooking is amazing, Kono-chan,” whispered Setsuna as she caught onto Konoka’s hand, holding it on her cheek.

Her beautiful friend smiled, her brown eyes warm. She stroked Setsuna’s cheek, the touch just as tender as it was arousing. “It’s easy to cook for someone I love.”

Konoka said that she loved Setsuna all the time, but this time Setsuna felt something stirring inside her stomach. Come on, say it… “Kono-chan…I…” She licked her lips, sweating. “I love…eating the food you make!”

Thunk! Setsuna sighed, leaving her hand from where she had face-palmed herself. Why couldn’t she just say it?

“Set-chan!” Konoka pulled Setsuna’s hand away and kissed the red mark on the black-haired girl’s forehead, somehow using that motion to slide onto Setsuna’s lap. All of Setsuna’s higher thinking immediately flew the coop as she gasped, her senses filled with just Konoka. The scent of her hair, her warmth, the sight of her hands coming up to wrap around Setsuna’s neck, the feel of her breasts against Setsuna’s own…

She kissed her hard, feeling Konoka’s startlement that quickly changed to eager passion as the brunette reciprocated, pulling them closely together.

When Konoka finally pulled away slightly, gasping for breath, Setsuna panted as well, finding her hands up the back of Konoka’s shirt. While a tiny, tiny part of her was spazzing over taking such liberty with her Ojou-sama’s body and for doing such inappropriate things, most of her was just revelling in the glory of feeling Konoka’s soft skin under her fingers. Somehow she had ended up on her back, with Konoka lying on top of her, her lady’s long hair forming a silky veil around them.

“Set-chan,” whispered Konoka, trembling with desire. She laid her shaking palm on Setsuna’s stomach to keep herself from doing anything else with that hand. “Are…are you sure you want to keep going?”

Setsuna knew how much Konoka wanted her. All these years, Setsuna wanted Konoka as well, but it was her own feelings about herself that had always kept her thinking that her desires were shameful. Ever since they came to the Magical World, Konoka’s advances had become more and more daring, and far less subtle. But a sensitive girl like Konoka would be very aware of Setsuna’s discomfort with the idea of intimacy between them. It made Setsuna love her more, just for that kind consideration.

“Set-chan?”

Without a word, Setsuna kissed Konoka lightly, clasping one of Konoka’s hands. She drew Konoka’s hand up and placed it on her breast—

Aversion suddenly flooded through Setsuna’s whole body, making her jerk in revulsion and surprise.

And then Setsuna remembered where she really was—

“GET OFF!” She shrieked, her full attention snapping back into the cave. Tsukuyomi’s weight pinned her down on the bed, the small swordswoman’s hand resting on Setsuna’s chest. That sensation sent Setsuna into a renewed frenzy, half-sobbing as she struggled, her horror washing away the last vestiges of the false dream planted inside her mind.

Tsukuyomi pouted. “Awwww, Senpai…a few more seconds, and you would have taken me all the way with you.” She removed her hand and sat back on Setsuna’s bare stomach, still straddling the half-demon girl. “It would have been really good too.”

With a sigh, Tsukuyomi hopped off the bed, looking incredibly disappointed. “I wasn’t going to do anything against your consent, you know. It wouldn’t be as fun. Oh, my hopes had been so high, when you wanted me to touch you…”

“No, I didn’t!” Setsuna screamed, feeling the burn of shameful tears wetting her eyelashes. “I didn’t, I didn’t, I DIDN’T!”

“Crap,” Setsuna muttered. She twisted, trying to look at the back of her thigh. Her leg wound protested, making her wince and crane her neck instead.

Stupid Mana, for shooting her. And for accusing her of all those things.

And for being right about it all.

The bullet wound was just a graze, but since Mana had been using rifle rounds the gouge was wide enough for copious bleeding to result from Setsuna’s negligent walking. She sighed, pulling away the cloth of her pants from the wound’s edges, sending another jolt of pain through her thigh.

Growling, Setsuna braced herself against the sink, lowering her head. She needed to clean her wound, or at least wash the blood off herself and get into some new clothes. A shower seemed pretty unavoidable, but she hated that it was still bright out. Setsuna never felt comfortable with closing her eyes instead of using the darkness to keep her from seeing herself.

Ever since that time, she was never sure what she’d be seeing when she opened them again.

By feel Setsuna found the window blinds and yanked them as tightly shut as she could. Even so, she could still see tinges of red through her eyelids instead of pure black, but it was the best she could do.

At this point she had to stop, breathing heavily to calm her heartbeat down.

Ever since yesterday, everything hurt worse than before, especially inside her head. Too many memories triggered by just one simple reminder.

Deal with it! Setsuna exhaled and pulled the tie on her pants, trembling when she felt them slide down and bunch up by her ankles. Having a few shots to mellow her anxiety would be preferable, if Setsuna went for that kind of stuff.

Shizuna-sensei had actually suggested benzodiazepines early in their therapy sessions, but Setsuna had refused vehemently. A warrior had to fight what made her afraid, not use drugs as a crutch…and in a way—a sick way, Setsuna knew—she wanted to feel the agony. It reminded her that this was indeed reality and not…not a dream.

The dreams Tsukuyomi had woven using the Psychi Kinigi spell had made everything feel easy and well. Despair had only returned when she had woken from the lies.

Or she was just being stubbornly masochist again, as Asuna liked to accuse of her.

Setsuna’s fingers fumbled on her shirt, but finally she managed to yank it off, feeling a rush of unease when the cool bathroom air touched her bare skin.

Oh god…Brutally, Setsuna tore off her underwear, ignoring the burn of her injury and leap into the shower, nearly breaking the half-open shower door in her haste. She jerked the tap, flinching as ice-cold water spurted out of the showerhead onto her shoulders before slowly warming up. Her leg stung as the water washed out the wound, and Setsuna just let it happen, focusing on bracing herself against the tiled wall and not losing it entirely.

She couldn’t stand the sensation of touching her own body, but at the same time she couldn’t bear being dirty. Both took her mind to dark places…what irony. It figures that life would want to hand Setsuna Sakurazaki one big joke after another.

Quit whining and pull yourself together! The little sarcastic and scolding voice in her head changed depending on what Setsuna was admonishing herself about; Evangeline’s voice tended for her more stupid actions, Asuna’s for her stoic-warrior-nonsense…but the one Setsuna feared most was reserved for whenever she was just plain scared.

And fear was an emotion Setsuna had been swimming in far too much lately.

She fumbled for the soap bar, lathering it between her hands until she had two handfuls of soapy foam. Breathe, breathe, it’s not a big deal—she touched her own shoulder, still feeling okay at that contact. You’re fine. As her hands soaped downwards, Setsuna felt herself start to tremble again, despite her efforts to control her breathing and jitters.

It’s fine.

Water ran in warm rivelets down her back and arms, the droplets bleeding together and falling in fat drops onto the tile.

Cutting through the blinding pain in her chest was the creeping sensation of blood trailing down her stomach—

Setsuna gasped, inhaling a shuddering pant into her lungs and breaking her meditative breathing. It’s fine, there’s nothing to be scared of—it’s fine—it’s—

Shame and disgust burst from her gut, sending a wave of nausea to drive Setsuna to her knees. She banged her shoulder against the faucet but that didn’t faze her, and Setsuna clutched at her head, struggling to breathe through the tension in her chest.

*“Oh, my hopes had been so high, when you wanted me to touch you—”*

The shower door cracked as Setsuna practically tripped out of the stall, rolling to her feet right before she crashed into the opposite wall. Frantically, Setsuna seized her clothes and yanked them on, barely refraining from tearing the fabric when the sleeves or cuffs didn’t open for her limbs properly. It was hard and immensely uncomfortable to pull clothes on top of wet skin, but Setsuna kept at it, not even bothering with buttons or zippers before bursting out of the bathroom once she had covered herself enough to be decent.

There it was, leaning against her bunk. Setsuna seized Yuunagi, holding it tightly in her hands, her right fist trembling on the nodachi’s hilt.

She wasn’t back there. She was in Konoka’s house. She had Yuunagi, and with her trusted weapon there was no way anyone could get the jump on her to do anything against her will. She was safe.

Really? Tsukuyomi took you even with Yuunagi in your hands.

…

Setsuna really had to stop being so honest with herself.

**O**

*Let me in, tell me what it is you fear me to know…I will find out, I’m stronger than you, a mere half-demon—*

She held on, calling up memories of Konoka to piss Tsukuyomi off, and to keep herself sane and shivering behind the shield it provided against the cruel voice. She was playing with Konoka, tossing a ball between them—

Konoka was drowning.

Setsuna jumped into the river, and she grabbed for Konoka but they only splashed helplessly.

“Set-chan!” Konoka cried, and grabbed Setsuna around the shoulders, pushing her down into the water. Panic coursed through her—but Konoka was okay, she could breathe, but Setsuna was drowning, it was dark and violent—

She couldn’t breathe!

Konoka knew that she was more important than Setsuna…She was just using her right to use Setsuna’s life as she pleased…

“LIAR!” Setsuna screamed, jerking and feeling the ropes bite into her wrists. She couldn’t bear having Konoka become the villain in her mind, her memories, her…reality. That wasn’t what had happened!

Setsuna knew it wasn’t…

She believed that it wasn’t.

It wasn’t Konoka’s personality to think something like that, even if it really was Setsuna’s duty to give her life for her Ojou-sama. Setsuna fell back to her senses, opening her eyes frantically to see the dank cave ceiling above her, and feel the burn of the ropes on her wrists. She couldn’t bear having Tsukuyomi by her while she was so exposed, but at least she knew this was real.

This was the second day in a row where Konoka woke up feeling sluggish and feverish.

I just made up a high-level spell yesterday, and cast it successfully…can’t I sleep in? Konoka moaned and rolled over, burying her face in her pillow. Any moment, Asuna was going to barge in and tell her to get out of bed. And she knew that she had to; even assuming that Kyo had contacted their families about the success of her spell yesterday, she should really give Grandpa and Daddy a call herself. And she had promised Ethan-san that she’d go over the house budget with him, and she also had to start researching on the Ward spell origin…

But she was so tired, and her stomach was cramping, in that ambiguous way where she wasn’t sure if it was from hunger or sickness. And Konoka really didn’t want to be bothered to find out by getting out of bed.

She shifted, stretching a little to try and work the knots from her back. Her hand brushed Kyo’s pillow and Konoka pulled back quickly. Silly, she knew…she had done far more than touch his side of the bed, but still…it felt like there was still “his space” and “her space”, and Konoka knew that she wasn’t the only one to feel that awkward air in their room.

Finally, Konoka sat up, gingerly getting out of bed. Her stomach cramps eased a bit with the change in posture, and she yawned, wandering into the bathroom. A note was taped to the mirror, scripted as neatly as if it were a formal letter.

Konoka,

I’ll be spending the day at the Koyane Wards. After you completed your spell yesterday all the magical readings of the Wards changed, and so we are trying to establish new baseline readings.

If you could find out what the elements of the original spell were, and where the Mana Supply Anchors are, it would really help. Thanks.

Kyo

Konoka sighed, rolling her eyes and grousing, “Yeah, it might help if I had access to—”

She tore off the note, and found another one taped beneath it.

Log-in: Konoka
Temporary password: healermage

(But if you could please use my log-in for today, I’d appreciate it…I still have to get Grandmother’s approval for your account. I think she’ll say yes, but it might be easier if you just use mine for now.)

Admin-Log-in: Kyo Wallward
Password: kkkw432010grimoire

“Oh Kyo,” Konoka whispered, touched. He never quite said so, but she could tell that his family didn’t want her getting her own log-in to the Wallward database, despite the fact that she’s supposed to be part of their family now. While she doubted that they’d actually refuse Kyo’s request, she could guess that they’d be furious that he had brought it up himself instead of waiting for Konoka to ask.

And she couldn’t really blame the Wallwards. Eishun had been sparse in what information and privileges he had allowed Kyo to have too, not to mention the limited access Konoemon had finally given Kyo to Mahora only after they’d married, and not a moment before.

If things had been…different, Konoka supposed that maybe her family would have been more open with welcoming Konoka’s partner into the Konoe family. But with things as they are, even just a few months after their families had officially been joined it seemed like the in-laws were still working out what they hoped to gain from the union.

Leaving Kyo and Konoka to struggle along and try to make something meaningful of their marriage, when everyone around them only saw it for its advantages.

Even from her oldest friend, which hurt. It hurt a lot.

She had hoped that after a couple of months, that everyone would fall into some kind of “routine”…something that would make Konoka wake up and go through the day without thinking. Instead of trying to be Lady Konoka, Mrs. Konoe-Wallward, Kyo’s Wife, she really would feel like her.

So that when Konoka walked past Setsuna in the hallway she really would just glance at her and think “Setsuna-san”, instead of instantly being hit with the reminder that this was her Set-chan.

And that she isn’t Konoka’s anymore.

But how could Konoka forget? She kept dreaming about what-could-have-beens.

The worst part was that some of her dreams weren’t imaginary at all. And so Konoka would relieve moments when she had been in love…and then wake up in reality.

**O**

She’ll kill Tsukuyomi one day.

The pain now was nothing—Setsuna could bear it. Indeed, she was vaguely thrilled at the scent of blood, even if it was her own. It made Setsuna shiver with bated breath, just waiting for when she could tear into warm flesh and laugh in her revenge.

Just wait it out.

Wait patiently.

And your enemy will give you a chance…show you their weakness, an opening to be exploited.

Setsuna was waiting.

Pain was easy to bear. The Psychi Kinigi less so, but the confusion and despair caused by the mind games didn’t matter that much to Setsuna in this state. That was for her weaker side to deal with, while her duty was to get them through this ordeal intact enough to exact their revenge.

Footsteps sounded out of her field of vision, warning Setsuna that her enemy was here. Tsukuyomi walked up beside the bed, running a knife along the bed rail. She put a knee on the bed and reached for Setsuna’s hands, still bound above her head.

“Finally, Setsuna…I found—”

Setsuna felt the binds give.

Tsukuyomi shrieked as Setsuna erupted off the bed, tearing her raw wrists from the cut cords to seize her captor around the throat. Setsuna dug her fingers in—she meant to throw both of them to the floor to use gravity to her advantage, but it wasn’t necessary since Tsukuyomi didn’t have any strength in her struggles, to Setsuna’s mild surprise. Oddly, the spectacled swordswoman had dropped her knife instead of slashing Setsuna’s throat; she must have caught Tsukuyomi well off guard.

Oh yes, it felt so good to feel the shock of Tsukuyomi’s struggling through her hands, to feel the panic and life slipping out of her enemy’s gasping lips breath by breath…

Setsuna laughed.

“So, find who you expected?” She taunted, watching the last light fade from Tsukuyomi’s dark eyes—

…Her enemy had light eyes.

Setsuna blinked, and blond hair turned brunette in that instant.

And Tsukuyomi’s face vanished, replaced by someone Setsuna would recognize in any shape or disguise—even bloated in death.

“…Kono-chan?” whispered Setsuna.

No.

No. No no no no no…

Setsuna screamed, a guttural sound tearing from her throat as she threw herself backwards, writhing on the bed and sobbing. She did this…this is what the stronger part of her was. A murderer. A destroyer of everything that she loved.

Konoka’s body lay heavily on Setsuna’s chest, still warm enough to give off the appearance as if she was still alive. Setsuna needed to find that knife that her Kono-chan had dropped. She needed it…but she couldn’t bear to touch Konoka to move her.

Tsukuyomi rested her chin on her folded hands, gazing at Setsuna with patient calmness. She had dispensed with her bonnet, although she still had the jaunty purple bows in her hair. She still didn’t look any less deadly and deceivingly delicate.

“Are you ready to say it now?”

Setsuna stirred, feeling the raw skin of her wrists burn as they rubbed against the blood-soaked ropes. Alone in the chamber with just her enemy for company, with no knowledge of the days—it could have been hours or years. Lying on her back with her wrists bound made her breathing come shallowly, her pale and sweat-soaked skin trembling as strands of Tsukuyomi’s hair brushed lightly across her bare stomach.

Something had caved inside of her, falling silently into the hollow where her heart was. As if her emotional understanding of herself had to mirror the quiet wreckage of her mind, Setsuna could feel her strength slipping like cold meltwater through the cracks between her fingers. Dripping away and leaving behind only a damp numbness.

Her lips worked weakly, barely whispering an audible sound. “…What was the question?”

Tsukuyomi bent over Setsuna’s prone form and kissed her lightly, pulling back from Setsuna’s motionless lips to look her in the eyes. Cupping Setsuna’s cheek as sweetly as a lover, Tsukuyomi smiled triumphantly.

“Instead of always carrying her with you, now you have me.”

November 23, 2007

**O**

Same dayKyoto, Kansai Magic Association

Tsukuyomi

Tsukuyomi grinned, pushing her glasses up with a finger.

She was incredibly tempted to reach out and flick the tip of her katan across the unobservant maid’s throat, but she just managed to restraing herself. Attracting attention to herself today wasn’t idea; and besides, she wasn’t going to taint her favourite blade that way.

She was saving it for special occasions.

Once the maid moved on Tsukuyomi continued on her mission. It really was far too easy to move around once she had by-passed the perimeter security—the Kansai Magic Association put far too much trust in their spells and passcodes. Simple spells that the Shinmeiryuu taught all their students about, and passcodes that hadn’t changed since a full month ago when a helpful guard had told her the “safe passage” words. All she had used was a simple threat: only that she would stick a knife into his gut if he lied to her; hardly anything to fret about. Tsukuyomi was disappointed at how easy it had been.

Truly, no one was as fun as her Senpai.

Ah, here it was.

Tsukuyomi slipped a length of purple silk through the bars, moving along undetected. She knew that the recipient would recongize it as one of her hair ribbons.

Her next target was just a few rooms down, and she let the silk pool into a shadowed spot by the door, disappearing out of sight when a mage-guard came by, mindlessly on his routine patrol.

Don’t kill him. Not even to mess with him for fun. Really, Tsukuyomi was just dying to reach out and pluck his tanto from his belt…and it would be so easy to get him in the kidney with it, he was so close and so clueless…but no. Restraint.

This was only the first part of her plans, after all. No need to overly complicate things so soon.

Five minutes later, she was back outside the prison wing. Ten minutes later, she was out of the property boundaries, strolling along the sidewalk and humming a tune.

Really, she didn’t need the demon summoner or the politician. But to her aggravation, she still had a few loose ends that needed tying—or cutting off. And while she wasn’t silly enough to believe that the enemy of her enemy was anything remotely close to “friend”, Tsukuyomi could play nice with allies. She had used Fate just as much as he had used her, after all.

Anyways, now they knew that she would be coming for them.

But patience…Tsukuyomi was waiting for the perfect moment.

“Oh, this is so exciting,” she gushed, skipping for a few steps. Lifting her katana, Tsukuyomi trembled with excitement as she touched the bloody feather tied on her sword’s hilt to her lips.

Just the taste brought back so many nice memories…

Soon.

She hadn’t drawn her sword for three years, just waiting for the coming day.

Very soon.

The world can burn for all Tsukuyomi cared, as long as she had her Senpai in the end.

Spoiler for Author's Note:

This chapter was a little more laid-back, a breather episode, if you will, leading into the next arc . It also gave me a chance to show some things that I haven’t had time to get into in the previous more fast-paced chapters.

And yes, the multiple mood whiplashes and fan disservice were intentional . This is not a pretty story I’m crafting here.